Theljmageddon or Theljpocalypse?

In so many parts of the world, December means snow.  In many areas, November means snow.  I know there are places where September can bring snow and it doesn't melt until June.

We are not one of those places.

In a normal Amman winter, snow is a possibility sometime in the winter months, more likely in January or February. Inches brought Amman to a halt last winter, the kids had several snow days while it melted.

But this.  This is ridiculous.

When you've got the King of Jordan out pushing cars, there's a disaster in the works.

Hopefully he didn't have to watch for a truck swerving into him.

When you've got enough to build a lifesize car out of snow with barely a dent in the snowpile, the world is at a standstill.

What did they use for the lines?

When there's enough for a little Petra, well I don't even know what to say.

Clever.  Wish we'd thought of that.

When parts of the school collapse, the kids get a week+ added to their holiday.

The high schoolers eat here* when it's warm.  *Used to.

There are stories from far and wide across the Middle East, from Jerusalem to Riyadh, from Amman to Cairo, about the white stuff that ground us to a halt.  Like fools we went to a party on Friday night even when every other event over the weekend was canceled.  Breakfast with Santa?  Nope.  Movie at the Mall?  Nope.  Cookie parties? Nope.  Thursday night peppermint shots?  Nope.  That last one I looked forward to simply because it's an unusual offering at the Oasis, only for the month of December.  Edible peppermint cups with a shot of vodka.  I'd probably ask them to hold the vodka, knowing me.  But even that small thing, postponed by nearly a foot dumped on our doorstep, with nearly 2 feet dumped just north of the school.  Amman is on a set of hills and we're lower than many of them, so friends  from the "other side of the Embassy" couldn't leave their homes for days.  Some ran out of water.  Some ran out of diesel.  Donna wrote a fun blog post about the party we did make it to on Friday night, smack in the middle of what ended up being blizzard conditions: 25 mph winds with heavy snow blowing sideways,with already about 6 inches on the ground.  Our drive home was slow, partially due to waiting for people to figure out they couldn't make it up an ice rink of a hill, and then inching our way around cars abandoned on both sides of every street.

Kids don't see the white knuckle aspect of traversing a nightmarish winter wonderland.  Well, maybe Jonathon does as I told him he couldn't speak the entire drive home on Friday night.  He's a bit of a distraction with his non sequitur chatter.

They did enjoy the following day, once the snow had slowed.  We only added another inch or so on Saturday, so the kids were out playing with the neighbors and sliding down our hill.  Note to you all out there: Beach boards work in the snow too.  Even those wooden skimmers for right along the water's edge.  People called us crazy for bringing along 2 big snow boards (Costco is awesome, btw).  People?  Ian.  We're moving to the Middle East and I'm packing snow pants and snow boards.

Vindicated.

Before this snow hit with weather.com's <1 inch projection, locals were discussing the worst winter in decades that was to hit Amman in 2014.  I guess they might be right.

But then I went and ordered snow boots and new snow pants for the kids which will guarantee no more snow for the rest of our tour.

You're welcome.