Imagine my surprise when we stepped outside to catch the bus and everything was covered in snow! It was still coming down in big, wet, fluffy flakes. Since we've been away for so much of the winters, this is the first Seattle snowfall I'd seen in years. And it was happening on Christmas Eve!
We couldn't contain our excitement as we ran over the smooth white sidewalks to the bus stop. Of course, the bus was delayed and the snow was so unexpected that our bus driver had to stop for a while and phone in to get the special snow routes. "When I left this morning, I asked whether I needed to bring the snow routes along and my boss said, 'No, not today.' Ha!"
On the plane, I sat behind a six-year-old girl on her way to visit her mother's family in Billings while her father was flying home to Africa. She turned around and held her stuffed bunny out to me. I shook his paw and in that moment she declared, "I'm going to talk with you for the rest of the flight!"
She stuck to her word, the kind of gregarious girl my shyness kept me from being. Sometimes, her little sister distracted her, but sure enough a couple seconds later she would turn back around and stick her head between the window and the seat and shout, "Katie, guess what?"
She was curious about my Kindle, and when I explained that it held books inside it she squinted at the page and asked such a classic little-kid question that I almost couldn't believe this was real life: "Where are all the pictures?"
"They're in my head," I said.
"Oh. That's not as fun."
"It's fun, but it's not as easy to share."
"Will you read it out loud to me?"
I looked down at the page. In this particular scene, one of the characters was executing four people with bullets to the back of their heads.
"No. I'm not going to read this out loud, I'm sorry."
She looked disappointed but soon got over it. Bunny went on to eat all the windows in the plane and then rebuild them. Christmas carols were sung at the top of her lungs (particularly the Fa-La-Las of Deck the Halls). And I was kept thoroughly entertained for the flight.
When we arrived in Montana, it was already Christmas. Nash's parents picked us up and we were re-united with Ralph and we talked late into the night... but telling my Christmas tale is for another day.
Merry Christmas to everyone! I hope everyone had a magnificent day whether you celebrate this particular holiday or not!
- Katie, 
