A Great Christmas

Let me start by saying I hope everyone had a great Christmas.

On Dec. 23 we drove over to my in-laws house about 25 miles from here. ..They live out in the country completely surrounded by flat cornfields, so it's always very cold and windy there this time of year to begin with. Well about 8pm it began to storm and it was a massive ice storm, within 10 minutes eveything outside was covered with 2 inches of ice. The lights began to flicker and then we seen a transformer on a light pole catch fire and then everything went black. I'm thinking " oh shit, not only am I strnded here because of the ice but now there's no electricity"!

We rounded up all the candles in the house ( about 25 or so ) and placed them all around and lit them up. We didn't have to worry about heat since he runs a wood burner, so it was nice and toasty in the house. Anyway there was just something about sitting there in that big farm house while it stormed outside with all those candles lighting up the room that made it feel like a Christmas episode of the Waltons. So we all started opening gifts by candle light. I told the kids that we were having an old fashion Christmas this year and that they would remember this Christamas for sure.

It's funny how something aweful like an ice storm and power outage can turn into something special...... it also helped that my mother-in-law found a full bottle of rum and gave it to me ( I was the only drinker there)   Anyways, It was a special Christmas and one we will never forget.