Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

It was about 1:15 when I was idly staring out the office window and noticed that if I wished hard enough, I could actually see teeny, tiny snowflakes silhouetted against the dark evergreens.  "How nice," I thought to myself, "snow flurries.  It will probably come to nothing though, since there was no mention of snow in the forecast."

By 2:00, there were big fat fluffy flakes falling.  "How pretty," I thought to myself, "proper snowfall.  But it won't stick and should turn to rain, since there was nothing mentioned in the forecast."

At 2:15, I got a call from D who suggested that I consider coming home soon, since it was starting to "pitch" (the British word for "sticking" snow) where we live.  "How inconvenient," I thought to myself, "a snowstorm.  But I'm supposed to visit a dear friend for dinner tonight."

At 2:30, I cancelled with my friend and bailed on work - and this is what it looked like as I walked towards my car:

"Hmmm - I owe D a nice dinner in return for all the effort he put in on our Christmas feast," I thought,  "so I'd better pop into the shop to get something to make."  I coaxed the car over slick snow-covered roads to get to the shops, where it was mental because many other people had the same idea. 

Shopping complete, I crept slowly home on the back roads to avoid all the lunatics speeding thoughtlessly on the main thoroughfares.  Even going so slowly, the anti-lock brakes engaged a couple of times.  Stopped at intersections I silently pleaded that the tires would find the grip to get going again.  Fortunately they did, after a few dodgy moments.  By the time I got home, tire tracks on our road looked like this:

But the snow covered landscape is exquisite, and I'm excited by the unexpected change in the weather.  They say it will all be gone by tomorrow but I'm going to thoroughly enjoy it while it's here.

Snapped a few photos after I arrived safely at home...

Not quite a white Chrismas, but close enough since the tree's still up:

Yoda is wondering what happened to the world and exclaiming "ooh, look at all the fluffy cat toys falling from the sky!"

I love how our little house on the prairie feels so peaceful and isolated when the snow and fog settles in and we can't see our nearest neighbor.

And the trees look so cool with their stark branches highlighted in snow:

I'm really thankful that I got home before the roads looked like this:

It's still snowing now, and Bob the Bronco (yes, I named the truck - don't judge me!) has accumulated an impressive coat:

And we've already got over 4.5 inches on the drive (proof of no exaggeration) :

Not bad for a snowstorm that no one saw coming.  It astounds me at these moments that meteorologists have the cheek to call what they do "weather forecasting" instead of "weather random-guessing!"