Christmas Day in Ohio...

Christmas in Ohio at Don and Bridgette's place (Connie's brother and sis-in-law). Top 2 pics: opening stockings on Christmas Day; bottom: Crystal with cousins Aiden (left), and Brennan (middle).

It was an adventure coming down. We ended up getting about a foot of really wet snow the night before we left. We planned on leaving at 5am, but it took us 2 hours to dig ourselves out of the driveway. Thankfully, we were able to get some new high-quality all-season tires on the Sonata the day before we left (the original tires do nothing but spin in the snow; they're horrible). We're sure we wouldn't have even gotten out of the driveway without them.

While going down the 401, it was reduced down to 1 lane from 4, and was still snow covered. From Cambridge to Windsor, we counted 7 tractor-trailers jack-knifed (really bad), including one that mounted a snowbank while the trailer swung across 2 lanes of the 401. This is not to mention a number of cars in the ditch, median, and one that became airborne and landed 30 ft away on its side. It was only after we were on the 401 for an hour that we heard a public appeal on the radio by the OPP for people to stay off all roads until the plows and salters have had a chance to clear things up. Having said all this, we ended up safely in Ohio only 1/2 hr. behind schedule, and also to a green Christmas.