Christmas Ice Storm

It was the Friday night before Christmas of 2014. We were going to have our family Christmas Party on Saturday, that way the grandkids could stay home on Christmas Day and enjoy their toys. Jim, Diane and the girls arrived late after Jim got out of work. They retired to the basement for the night. I sat in my recliner in the living room reading on my Kindle.

I kept hearing a cracking sound followed by a thud. Around midnight, I got up, to look out the window. There I saw a virtual fairyland of ice. The tree beside the driveway was completely coated with ice its branches hanging down to the ground. I woke Jim up to move his car. The sound of limbs breaking and falling to the ground continued through the night, making for making for an uncomfortable nights sleep.

Brian and Christy were planning to host the Christmas Party this year, but by morning they had no electricity. Ours was still on, though not at full capacity, we still had heat. The venue was changed to our house, necessitating that we bring all the gifts from Brian and Christy's house back to ours.

The gifts were piled under our tiny tree in the living room, leaving very little space for people. By the time of the party, our electricity was completely out as well. We did have a gas stove, the oven wouldn't light, but the top burners could be lite with a match. We hurried to open gifts, munched on sausage, cheese and crackers, a veggie tray, Christmas cookies, Chex Mix, Ranch oyster crackers, and Little Smokies cooked in BBQ sauce and grape jelly on the stove top.

Jim, Diane and the girls went home, where they still had electricity. Brian drove all over looking for a generator and found one, so the kids had some electricity.

I got up early the next morning and went shopping for water, paper plates, cups, plastic ware, hand sanitizer, baby wipes and batteries. I also picked up a battery charger to use with my phone and Kindle. I stopped at McDonald's for something to eat, used the restroom there, and charged up my phone and laptop computer.

The first few days weren't too bad. The temperature was around 60 degrees the first day. Gary and I stayed at our house bundled in blankets, the dining room table filled with candles. We listened to music on my Kindle. There were candles in the living room and one in the bathroom. We keep an emergency stock of gallon jugs of water for flushing the toilet, and these were refilled at Brian's office. We did have a small propane camping heater that we ran occasionally, but it scared me to use it for long. I boiled water on the stove, so we could make coffee and hot chocolate, which seemed to bring the temperature in the house up a degree or two.

On Christmas day we went to Brian and Christy's house where I lay bundled up, never able to regain the warmth my body had lost. Christy served brunch and then later a ham dinner. I bought all the leftover cookies and junk food from the party. No one really seemed to have much of an appetite, it was a pretty lazy day. By evening some of the grandkids were throwing up.

Back at home, it was even colder, the temperature had dropped to the fifties. We bundled up and went to bed early. By morning, I was feeling sick. Diarrhea and vomiting are not fun when you have to flush the toilet with a gallon jug of water. The temperature in the house was now 48 degrees.

Our electricity would remain out for five days. The driveway was blocked by low hanging Maple limbs. Our Chinese Elms in the back and front yards looked like someone had chopped off the tops. A limb from the Chinese Elm out back had come down, breaking a fence and the grandkids swing set.

This would go down in memory as the worse Christmas ever!