Of Ice Storms and such!

We've been looking forward to our journey on the Polar Express for WEEKS now. After 3 yrs we won the lottery (literally, they have a lottery for buying these tickets) and we were all going to travel. And travel in style. Paid for premier seating, partly because I think it is a once in a life time t hing, partly because things like that sometimes are easier for my eldest. Less waiting in line etc make things much better for his autistic issues.

I sprang for a condo for a 2 night rental. We would have fun with a capital F. And then the goddess sent an ice storm. A storm of such magnitude that we were without power for 30 hours. Lost it around 9 on Thursday night and just got it back on about 3 a.m. on Saturday. And I got a cold. First time i have been sick in so l ong I can't really remember when, but it still sucked. And being cold and having a cold at the same time totally rot. You can't tell if you are shivering because the house is 48 degrees or because you have a cold and have a fever. Yup, life can be grand!

So although we were supposed to leave yesterday for our NH journey we didn't. We camped out mostly in my bedroom by my little gas fireplace. KC and Robbie played board games and card games and took breaks to use my bed as a trampoline. (Really!) We could heat food on our gas stove top though the oven is not usable without electricity for the ignition. (one of those modern changes that I hate; would much rather have an older model that will start with a match when the power is out) Our doggie day care had also fallen through with our dog sitter trapped at her home by live wires and unable to get out till who knows when. The vets were closed and all the other options we could come up with for dog sitting kept falling through. I didn't really want to leave the house with no power. What if a pipe broke and there was no one here? I suggested to the kids that perhaps i should stay home with our dog and they should go up with Mom so that at least most of us could ride the Polar Express. KC said if I couldn't go with them then he didn't want to go. I am amazed! I am not sure I would have been so altruistic at 4. So we decided maybe we weren't going to go and figured out how to make the best of it.

We had a lovely pasta supper last night and the dining room glowed in the candle light. Poor KC was so confused; he was sure it was solstice nite! We watched the moon rise in the sky and admired stars that were so bright because there were no city lights for them to compete with. And then we went to bed. It was 6 p.m. It was dark and cold, why stay up any longer?

And when we woke this morning we had heat and lights and a sparkly new day. We decided that we would go north after all and ride the express tonite and come home the same day. Or night really as it will be about 10:30 when we get home. But we will ride that magical train. Oh and our doggie care friend just called. She managed to get down to her dog care business and is available to watch Blake if we want to drop him off. Sounds like a bit of Yule tide magic after all!