A Christmas Tale that Includes Tornadoes

5:13 p.m. CST: Mobile radar during the tornado that hit western parts of Mobile, AL.  Source: MSN.com

I hope everyone who celebrates Christmas had a safe and happy holiday!  Mine was exciting, but for all the wrong reasons.  I did manage to have a lovely Christmas eve that included watching my favorite Christmas movie, Love Actually.  I also got to witness my most bossy and dominant dog, Maggie, meekly wear a pair of reindeer antlers for almost 30 minutes.  I also had a great Christmas day lunch with family and received lots of lovely presents, including a Keurig coffee maker to replace the one that broke a few months back.  Um, coffee in the mornings again!

Dauphin Street at North Carlen Street is impassable from storm damage in midtown Mobile, Ala., Tuesday, Dec. 25, 2012. (Mike Kittrell/mkittrell@al.com)

I also sat in my "safe place" while a tornado passed overhead.  You can see videos of it here.  Christmas evening was spent glued to the TV to make sure that the dozens of tornadoes that passed through my area were not also going to be a direct hit, which sadly at least one and perhaps more were for many in my area.  As I'm typing this, the last squall line is rolling through, but so far so good.  I'm sure tomorrow morning will bring many stories of great damage, as the storms hit right as it was getting dark, making it hard to assess how terrible things might be.

Source:  Stormchasermovies.com

I do know that the tornado that hit Mobile managed to skip over my area, although it was traveling in a straight line that touched down a few miles before and caused major damage a few miles after where I live.  It really does bring home the randomness of it all, doesn't it?  Not to mention that Mobile had a direct hit from another tornado last Thursday, and we are not an area known for tornadoes (hurricanes are another story).

Source:  AL.com

All I can say is that it's been a memorable Christmas, and I hope you and yours are safe and happy.  I'm grateful for much more than the presents I received this year!