(PRICHARD, Ala.) Chelette Parnell, her baby and her grandmother, all crouched down in the hallway as Mobile's Christmas Day tornado passed by.
Well, not everybody was crouching.
"I'm gonna tell you, my grandmother, the whole time I'm screaming, Madea, Madea, come on!" Chelette excitedly recalled. "She's saying, 'baby, God has it all under control, God's gonna take care of us', while this is happening!"
Just up Semler Street, Chelette's aunt, Mary Robinson and her son were clinging to the carpet in her bedroom, when she watched her kitchen wall literally open up.
"And as I looked up and could see the tornado as it was turning," she remembered. "All I could see was black, red, and in just a second, it was gone."
And that is how this family spent Christmas night.And the final days of 2012?
"Just being alive and thanking god for being here," said Mary.
Even before the tornado, Chelette referred to Semler Street as the forgotten street. It's the last street in Prichard before you hit the Mobile city line. But Chelette is hoping, out of all of this mess, something good might happen.
Chelette says the Red Cross was quick to respond with tarps, food and comfort. Governor Bentley, she says, has promised help, too. In 2013, the street, she hopes, will one day look better than even before the storm.
Does the experience change her life in any way?
"Well, just to make better choices in life," she said. "That's my thought process for the year 2013. I don't make resolutions, I just want to make better choices in every aspect of my life."
And Mary Robinson? She says, in the new year, it would be wrong to despair.
"Because I'm blessed, just to be alive," said Mary. "It's a good year. It's a great year for me."
