Christmas is Cancelled
That’s what I said to Joe Christmas morning when we woke up to an ice storm, when the power went out and I wondered how many turkeys wouldn’t get cooked for Christmas dinner and how many families wouldn’t be able to travel to see relatives that day. “We won’t even be able to light the tree!” I was shocked to realize.
Luckily, the neighborhood farm community where we gather for holidays didn’t lose their power (and even if they had some of those homes are off the grid). So I cooked my rutabagas and potatoes on the grill propane burner on our front porch, mashed them by hand and added them to the farm turkey with all the fixings.
Today, the hum of the generator takes the place of Christmas carols playing on the stereo, keeping our just hunted year-long supply of deer meat in the freezer safe. Candles last night added seasonal ambiance as I ate my Christmas fruitcake and Joe rang a Tibetan singing bowl that reverberated out like a monk walking gently in the snow.
December 27th, 2009 12:52 pm
I don’t know. No power on Christmas actually sounds somewhat relaxing and romantic, as long as everyone is warm, safe and has food to eat. Sounds like all turned out well for you, especially as the power came back on before you lost everything in the freezer.
Beautiful shot, by the way of the ice on the trees!
Oh and a Merry Christmas from NetChick’s Meet n’ Greet!
Emme
December 27th, 2009 1:11 pm
We were lucky enough to keep power on through the storm over here in our part of Meadows of Dan. Cooked the turkey outside on the grill anyway and had a lovely time staying at home!
December 27th, 2009 2:30 pm
It just came on 20 minutes ago, which begs the question “what’s the first thing you do when the power comes on after being off for nearly three days?”
December 27th, 2009 4:43 pm
When I lived overseas and we had such outages the first thing I did was laundry and filling everything with water because that also meant the water pump was off. Of course, that happened on a regular basis…so I sort of had a routine going.
December 27th, 2009 5:39 pm
“Goin’ with the Flow” – Our water is gravity fed and heated with propane. I took a wonderful hot bath in candlelight, read by flashlight and went to bed early. I needed the nurturance. Day two … down to Roanoke to reunite with N,C, & D for a game of Scrabble with my mom and the movie, Invictus.
December 27th, 2009 5:53 pm
I just had to google to see what the movie was about because I had never heard of it. Great cast, good historic subject.
December 27th, 2009 6:04 pm
huh, pretty much matching here. we got it a little later. glad you could go with the flow. Sounds like the makings of a Vinyl Cafe comedy. ie. Stuart M’s http://www.zunior.com/product_info.php?products_id=1437
December 28th, 2009 8:11 am
Our power was off for five days before Christmas (eighteen inches of snow), but I’ll have to say, it was pretty miserable as we don’t have a woodstove and we had no water. My husband did drag out an old kerosene heater he found in the trash that gave us some heat for the last three days of the outage. But we were thrilled when the power came back on for Christmas. Glad you were able to make the best of it and to save your frozen food. We buried ours in the snow. 🙂
December 28th, 2009 9:23 am
We are such creatures of habit.
What would we do if it were out indefinitely?
I think the first thing I would do is set my hair with the hot rollers and begin to look half way decent. xox
I am glad the electricity came back for you Colleen.
December 28th, 2009 10:41 am
i am always reminded what a very bad pioneer i would have been when we lose power. i am agitated and difficult to be around after the several hours. i don’t like reading by lantern or candlelight, miss the computer and television background hum, get tired of winding the radio arm, feel powerless to fix the situation, and soon begin a moment by moment look-out for the power company truck.
glad you are more flexible than i am and that the day was festive with no spoiled food! our last ordeal was a 13 day blackout – we need to get a generator.
December 28th, 2009 10:45 am
13 days would be more than I could stand! The first thing I did was run the dishwasher, filled from the Christmas Eve party. I was able to heat up my hairsetter briefly on the back-up generator power, but could not bathe, no hot water and had to cook on the porch grille! I worried about all that fat splatter staining the wood.
December 29th, 2009 11:35 am
no hot showers is the roughest part of black outs.
January 20th, 2010 9:54 pm
Hello Colleen!!!
I haven’t seen or heard about you in years!
I am alive and well in Blacksburg, taking care of my mom who is 80+ and when I need a break, we have a Home Health Aide come in regularly each week, so I can go shopping, hiking, or whatever.
Wowee, Colleen, I had asked Google for “Her Vine Archway Photos” to find interesting garden photos for my screensaver, when this site presented itself to me.
I like reading about Floyd again. I do not get out there much these days, since my car died enroute to my father’s funeral on July 27, 2009.
I reckon I will come on over, one of these days, most likely in the summer, though I do not know where you live.
First I saw the title: “Museletter” and I wondered who else on the www would call their writings that, so this is how I found your blog!
Wow!
Take care
Sincerely,
Steven S.
December 12th, 2013 6:57 pm
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