Christmas Eve, for me, is my most favourite day in the world. Everything feels very magical, like anything can happen. When it snows on Christmas Eve, I get so excited.


I have two mindsets on snow.
Before and during Christmas: "Christmas snow is magic, as everybody knows! You'll never see a frowning face on Christmas when it snows!"

After Christmas: "And there's one more thing that I have discovered, And I would now like you to know, The reason for Christmas I now realize is an excuse to tolerate snow! Snow. I don't even like the SOUND of it!"




There is one funny thing I want to tell you. Every year in Tahoe, our fire station decorates a fire truck and it goes around the town, different areas each night, blasting Christmas music and shining with lights and visiting the neighbourhoods, and then the people driving the truck hand out candy canes to the townsfolk. Well, this year, they were apparently not coming to our neighbourhood. Sadness! My whole family looks forward to it every year. It somehow doesn't *quite* feel like Christmas without the fire truck.

Yesterday, I had a couple sisters over for dinner - there was me (Kat), Amanda, Teresa and Maria - and we were going to eat chicken enchiladas and watch Disney's Christmas Carol, followed by Mickey's Christmas Carol. So, we had finished our enchiladas, and were about at Marley's Ghost in the movie, and we paused it to put down coffee, when my sister Amanda suddenly opened the door and stuck her head outside.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I thought I heard the fire truck," she said. Remember, it blares Christmas music loud. Real loud. Just as she said that, she pointed and said, "There it is! I see it!" It was heading up Ski Run Boulevard toward Heavenly, the mountain where the skiers go. "Do you want to chase it?"

So we all flung on coats and shoes and ran outside, but it had vanished. We ran past a couple streets, but we couldn't even hear the music anymore. "That's sad," Amanda said.

"Do you want to get in the car and see if we can find it?" Teresa asked.

So we ran back to the house, piled into Amanda and Teresa's Landy, and drove up Ski Run, following the fire truck. We craned our necks down each street we passed, trying to catch a glimpse of the lights. We came to the intersection of Ski Run where it connects to Pioneer Trail, and decided to turn right. So we come up to the light, and there is a fire station at this intersection, also to the right. Lo and Behold! There was the Christmas Fire Truck! We screamed so loud, we couldn't decide if we should pull into the station and jump out to holler Merry Christmas, or if we should pull to the side or the road and do the same. As we turned right onto Pioneer, trying to make up our minds, the fire truck started moving, like it was going to leave again. (Perhaps it was refueling its stock of candy canes?) Anyway, so we drove past, hollering like maniacs, and looking behind us to see if it was going to turn right as well and come along behind us, or if it was going to turn left and go back down Ski Run Boulevard.




So we made a frantic U-turn and came roaring up behind it, and idled at the red light. Then, unbelievably, THE FIRE TRUCK RAN THE RED LIGHT, MAKING A LEFT HAND TURN ON A RED LIGHT AND TURNING BACK ONTO SKI RUN BOULEVARD, GOING DOWN TOWARD LAKE TAHOE BOULEVARD!!!



We screamed. "COOOOOOME BAAAACK! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" It was torture, watching it creep down Ski Run and unable to follow.

That was the longest red light ever, you guys. But our light finally went green and we zoomed through and got back behind the fire truck. By this time, we were all starting to feel a bit stalkery and giggling at how weird we were. But you don't understand, this is the Christmas Fire Truck. We look forward to it EVERY YEAR!!!

So we followed the truck, even when it turned right onto Lake Tahoe Boulevard. However, it did make another right turn into a small shopping mall that has a Red Hut, a ski rental place, a salon, et cetera. We prudently let it turn, and passed by and turned right down a different driveway, and then made a few right hand turns until we could get into the shopping mall via a different entrance. And the fire truck had stopped, and was idling in the parking lot and giving out candy canes!


So, we parked and piled out and waved and shouted Merry Christmas, and got our own candy canes.

Then Teresa asked them if they'd go up to Spruce Avenue, because our family would love to see them, and they said YES!

So we piled back into the car, and the fire truck exited the parking lot, but since there are two Spruces in Tahoe and very near to each other, we followed the truck in a roundabout way to make sure it was going to the right Spruce.



Teresa called the family, making sure they knew the truck was coming and to line up outside and wait for it. And they did. And we took a bunch of pictures and so many people came out to greet it and get candy canes. And we all felt like good spirits of Christmas, bringing the fire truck to our neighbourhood! :-)



And that's my funny story of how we didn't expect the Christmas truck, and then we found it and stalked it, and made it come to our house anyway.

Oh, and here's a little Christmas music from our family to you. Merry Christmas!

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