Merry Icestorm Christmas!

This has been a Christmas we will always remember.  During the longest night of the year, 4 days before Christmas, southern Ontario was hit with an ice storm like nothing we had ever seen before.  The weight of the ice encrusting everything outside brought down branches and power lines all over the city.  Over 300,000 homes lost power that night.

Our hydro was only out for 2 days and two nights.  It was warm enough with all the candles burning that all we needed was a sweater and maybe a blanket to snuggle under.  I downloaded a Doctor Who radio show, which we listened to while sipping on cocktails.

By the evening of the 23rd, we were back up and running.  We had a little glitch with our furnace, but it sorted itself out overnight.  We emerged to assess the damage to our trees and property.  We did pretty well, with the exception of one lattice fence which will need to be replaced.  Lots of branches fell, and we won't know how badly the trees were damaged until spring, but the house, shed, etc. were all untouched.

My parents' house, however, is still without power as of this writing, December 25th.  After 2 days of inviting and insisting that they come stay with us, they have finally agreed.  And Auntie Ruth flew in from Winnipeg tonight to spend the holidays with us.  So we have a full and happy house tonight!

As for the rest of our non-icestorm related Christmas doings...

We got up around 9:30.  Sarah the pre-teen has reached the stage where she would rather sleep than get up early on Christmas morning.  I can't say that I really mind, though!  We had stockings and presents.  Sarah's biggest excitement was for an RC helicopter and a makeup kit.

We had bacon, eggs and toast for breakfast and packed up enough for Mom and Dad, along with thermoses of hot coffee, then hit the road. First stop, my parents' with our care package.  They had a nice warm fire going in the fireplace.  We dropped off our goodies and got back in the car.  Next stop, Bruce's parents', where we had a nice afternoon and a lovely dinner.  Then back home in time to meet Mom, Dad and Auntie Ruth coming back from the airport.

We sat and chatted a bit.  We had wine and ham sandwiches.  Around 1 am, we all tucked ourselves snug into warm beds.

What a great Christmas!