Merry Ice-mas!

Winter started early this year, and was not gentle with us.  By early December, snow plowing companies seemed not to be answering their phones or returning inquiry calls. So I often find myself snow blowing at 10 pm, after little ones are settled in bed and clothes are laid out for the morning. I silently apologize to my neighbors, and thank my dad for finding me a reliable and effective snow blower. 

Winter offered an additional challenge, however. An Ice Storm. And on December 22nd, I woke up to no power. It appears it had gone off in the wee hours. This was the day I had set aside to plow through all my laundry (having had sick kids in the preceding days) and to wrap all the Christmas gifts while the kids were with their dad.

Fortunately, the temperature in the house didn't drop too quickly. It was holding at about 65º in the morning so I started what cleaning I could do without electricity. I also learned that my gas stove will not work without electricity, but my stove top burners will.  I also learned that I did a poor job at plugging in my electronics the night before because just about everything was dead.

Then I got a call from Ray: Major issues with the back up power supplies at the hospital data center, he had to go in. Could he drop the kids off?  I'm happy to spend time with the kids, but, Hmm. We'll need to re-figure the wrapping gifts part.

We had a nice time playing outside in the snow and ice.  We made stove top hot chocolate and grilled cheese while I fretted about the fridge and freezer contents.  By the time the kids left in the evening, the house had dropped to about 63º and I frantically attempted to box and wrap as many presents as possible before my daylight was gone and I was left with flashlights. The children, of course, had creatively relocated my LED lantern, and most of my flashlights for play.  Power restoration estimates were set for December 26th at 11:00 p.m.  About 500k people were without power in the surrounding states and Canada.

That night, I had a lovely dinner and hot shower at my sister's, and she helped me clean out my fridge to move the contents to my back deck. That night, I slept in fleece pants a heavy sweatshirt and wool socks. When I woke in the morning, it was 56º and I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep there again if power wasn't restored.  I got to work very early, just to be somewhere warm, and was grateful my kids were able to sleep in their own warm beds at their dad's.  

At lunch time, I rushed home from work to empty the freezer, putting those items on the back deck. After work, I rushed home to make use of the little available daylight to pack up ALL the gifts and wrapping paper and supplies, all the food I needed to cook, the clothes and toiletries for the next few days for myself and the kids; all with the intent to move into my sister's until maybe the 26th. It was now 52º in my house, which was better than I expected, but I cursed the previous owners who took out BOTH real fireplaces to replace them with two fakers that are completely useless in the event of a power outage. My sister helped me clean out the fridge and get that on the back deck too. I opened taps to help keep the pipes from freezing, and I worried.

I fretted about Christmas, and made plans to have my Christmas with the kids at my sister's while they were with my brother-in-law's family. I was stressed and exhausted and trying to look on the bright side and be flexible.

I baked my sweet potatoes and wrapped presents until Ray called to tell me he'd gotten an alert from the back-up hard drive that there was a power surge.  Dare I hope?  It was 10:30 pm and there were 2 presents left to go...

Around 11, bleary-eyed, I drove home to find my house, indeed, with power!  Hooray! I better start this laundry!

The morning of Christmas Eve was amazingly, indescribably beautiful. And I couldn't have been more grateful to all the hard workers who were involved in repairing downed lines and restoring power.

Merry Christmas!