Christmas update in a bulleted list:
- 12/23 at 10:15am. Edison shut the power down to prevent brush fires due to the high winds and dry conditions. I had just stocked two refrigerators and a freezer.
- 12/23 in the evening, we were told not to expect power until late Christmas day. We got coolers out and packed up what we could, including my Christmas Miracle rib roast that the nice butcher cut specifically for me.
- 12/24, Christmas Eve, we had a rough morning. It was cold and we were not in the mood for much. We tried to play some games but no one was in the mood and phones were dead too by this point. We hit McDs for breakfast. Had to get propane in the event that the Christmas meal would be cooked by BBQ.
- 12/24, late afternoon, power was restored. We quickly heated the house and watched three movies to cheer us up. I cannot tell you how happy I was to have power again. So happy that I forgot about that Icelandic tradition of reading on Christmas Eve.
- 12/25, Christmas was great and we were able to have breakfast and dinner as planned. All the food was okay and safe to eat since we packed it so well in the coolers.
Right Now:
Enjoying coffee and the morning news. Trying to figure out what we will do today.
This Week:
One day this week we will head up the coast to visit with my son. That will be good. It’s a nice drive and he is going to take us to a park he likes to visit. The Otter Pup will be on cloud nine as she misses him a lot. Every time he calls she always looks around trying to find him.
Reading:
I will be reading The Overstory for my official first book of 2021. However, since I finished Pride and Prejudice I did dip into my book club book for late January, The Memory Police.
Watching:
I finally watched Meet Me in St. Louis. THE sweetest, most charming movie ever. I highly recommend it.
Grateful for:
- Need I say it? Electricity.
- Although I was in a bad mood about all the food possibly spoiling, I was also reminded how lucky we are to have two refrigerators and a freezer full of food. Definitely something I am grateful for.
- That will we be able to see my son this week even if only for the day.
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and that you all remain healthy and well.
Book Chatter 
Glad you got your power back in time for Christmas and none of your food went bad. We bought a generator this year because we are tired of losing electricity. So far, even with the high winds we have not lost power. Not saying anything more……
Wow!! You are starting off 21 with a chunkster, your brave. I’m not sure yet what mine will be. I’m reading A Most Beautiful Thing by Arshay Cooper. It’s about the first all black high school rowing team. It will be my last book for 2020.
Enjoy the visit with your son! We are celebrating Christmas later this afternoon! Everyone is contributing to the meal! Looking forward to having all our kids here!
Enjoy your day!!
Just what you needed more stress-pre-Christmas. I am so happy your meal worked out. I need to check out Meet Me in St. Louis. We didn’t read many Christmas movies this year just ELF, Miracle on 34th Street and Christmas Vacation (loved ELF but C.V. was way too silly – sillier than I remembered from 20+ years ago.)
I insist you watch Meet Me in St. Louis if you can. It’s a sweet, warm colorful film. So well acted.
I’m glad you got your power back in time and you were quick to pack up all that food in coolers. We lived with frequent power outages for years and it’s a royal pain. Fortunately, we’ve only had a few at our new home and only one that destroyed all the food (because we were returning from Australia when the power went out and it had already been out for 24 hours when we arrived home).
I haven’t seen Meet Me in St. Louis, so I just looked it up and I’ll watch it, some time soon.
I’m sorry you had a stressful time leading up to Christmas! My brother has lost power (in Escondido) a couple of times this year, so I guess it’s the new normal. They’re looking into getting a generator so they won’t stress about keeping their food cold/safe. We lost power last September, but thankfully, only for 12 hours.
I have a copy of Overstory in my stacks (it was gifted to me last year for my birthday), but I haven’t been inspired to pick it up, so I’m eager to hear your thoughts. My first read of 2021 will be the latest Louise Penny mystery. I’ve been looking forward to it since September!
I hope you have a good visit with your son. While I enjoy the holidays, I’m always pretty happy when we head into a new year.
A few things: 🙂 YOu were enjoying the news? Really? 😉 It is good that you all are going to be able to see your son, even if it is for the day. I’m glad your power came back. I remember when you told me it would be out until the next day and I thought that sucked. Glad it only semi-sucked. 🙂
Sunday news is all fluff. Feel good stories and funny animal photos.
Glad you got electricity back in time to enjoy your Christmas!
What a total drag to have your power off for those days! Glad it came on in time for you to celebrate and have a lovely holiday. I am still trying to choose my first book and my one word. I feel pressured to make these choices.
I am going to skip one word this year I think. Last year I chose GATHER. What a bad choice.
Hmmm. Gather does seem rather a bad choice for 2020 given how it all turned out. My 2020 word was POSITIVE, another bad choice, I’d say.
What a wonderful thing to celebrate — being together, being able to have electricity and food cooked for Christmas day, and visiting your son.
It sounds like an eventful holiday for sure. We stayed in and had a nice roast, but I was lethargic and exhausted from the previous two weeks of harrowing hand-coding of client work. Not a fun couple of weeks with our server disruptions. I was glad to have a long weekend to rest.
I finally finished a poetry book I’ve been reading for 1-2 months…