wind and snow and family

I'm almost titled this post "and the wind cried marrrryyyy" because I'm weird and have Jimmy Hendrix on the brain. As I write this, the wind beats against our house, howling and whirling with fury, making its way inside through any space absent of insulation in our old farm house. We are having a family sleepover tonight. The "polar plunge", as the weathermen refer to it, has arrived in northern Illinois and its brought with it whiteout conditions. Chris's dad, Joe, came out this morning to assist with morning cattle chores and stayed once the wind picked up and visibility gradually reduced. Chris's dear mother, Karen, and sister Emily decided to try and make the trek out to our farm from town (less than 10 miles) once the winds died down enough. That was earlier this afternoon. We all hung out in our living room, the only truly warm, carpeted room in the house and played and laughed with Henry, watching him walk his wobbly little walk until bedtime.  In the time it took me to take Henry upstairs, get him bathed and dressed for bed, the winds had kicked it into high-gear with scary speed. I rocked Henry to sleep and watched the tree 20 feet from our house gradually disappear from view, engulfed by the whipping torrents of wind and snow.
I'm finding that I see snowstorms & the idea of being "snowbound" through rose-colored glasses. I love it. In my opinion, being inside our cozy old home as mother nature has her hissy fit in white outside our windows is magic. There's just something special about the weather forcing the world to slow down and stay home. Everything's more fun. I'm still awake now at 10:44.. the latest I've been awake in a loooonnng looooong time and I'm cool with that. I just got done playing a few hands of euchre with Chris as my partner against Karen & Em, laughing and listening to stupid music that annoys Chris.
And tomorrow seems to already hold some promise, for me at least, as Karen has volunteered to wake up with Henry at 5:45 so I can sleep in. I feel naughty even saying those words. They sound sinfully good. Goodnight, world. See you at 8:00am. Because, anymore, that's "sleeping in" for me.