Dazzling December

December 1-15

Blistering Blizzard

Driving home in the snow storm

Snow started falling the first weekend in December and seemed to get more intense with each passing day.  By Tuesday the temperature dropped dramatically and the snow was heavy and cold.  It coated the trees with amazing weight which toppled many trees and limbs throughout the vast forests.  The power was out in many areas of Vermont--including ours.  (It was reported that 30,000 people were without power).  The Memorial has a back up generator that immediately kicks in whenever there is a power outage.  However, this was not enough to illuminate all of the Christmas lights.  So they had to get extra generators to run the lights. It took a week before normal power was restored, so it was worth getting extra generators.  After all the work of putting up the lights, no body wanted to have them down for a forth of the Holiday Season.  I guess it is only fitting to experience this type of New England storm.  Last winter we didn't have extended power outages so we had our turn this winter.  Our apartment was without power for much of four days.  So this leaves us without lights, heat, or water--since the water is pumped in from a well.  It is difficult to function in a dark apartment and very boring when you don't have t.v. or internet.  It is amazing to realize how dependent our lives have become on electricity (stoves, fridge, microwave, computer, etc).

Elders Harman & Ogden inspecting some of the broken trees

Driving up Dairy Hill Road

Winter Wonderland

Entering LDS Lane

Frosted "Lights of Christmas"

(Sorry for all the "light" pictures, but I will weed them out later)  The display impressed a large number of people. 
They were:  9778 cars drive through (the Church counts 4 people in each car) which makes 39112 people who came to see the lights, etc.  Of that total, we talked to 5547 of them individually and it was estimated 4817 of them were non-members.