Christmas Bash / Nor’easter

Last night we went to the annual christmas bash in Montclair. As always, we had a great time: conversations, live music, carol singing, food and drinks, karaoke, etc.  Calebc and Shecrow are great hosts, thank you.  Outside was a roaring Nor’easter tearing up the East Coast.  The snow storm persisted much of the evening and dumped a good 4-5 inches of snow on our car.  After some sweeping and scraping, we dug ourselves out and set off for our 22 miles-trip back home.  Many of the suburban homes in Montclair and Bloomfield were lit with colorful lights and the christmas atmosphere was just postcard-perfect.  The highways were a different story.  We saw quite a number of cars sitting idle at an odd angle by the roadside and needing assistance.  On one section of Route 4 East, the sometimes-single-sometimes double lane of traffic slowed to a crawl for about 20 minutes.  I was beginning to get worried because the blizzard was at full blast and snow was rapidly accumulating around us.  Apparently, half a dozen cars and minivans lost traction and were spinning their wheels in the middle of the road.   At one point, it was like an obstacle course where we were dodging struggling vehicles left and right.  It took us more than an hour to get home.  Glad that we had an all-wheel drive.  Facing the Hudson river, our place was blanketed by almost a foot of snow.  We may have a White Christmas this year.