Brrrrr

This cold snap is particularly miserable. After originally calling for a late start yesterday they decided to call school off altogether. We got well over the predicted one to two inches the day before and it was cold. I had been worried about chores in the bone chilling cold with the child along and was very relieved to have my hard working husband do the feeding for me. Only because of my concerns for the child not because I didn’t want to go outside, of course not.

It was such a pleasant treat to have my often absent husband home for, almost, a whole day. We Played with the stir crazy child, played on the computers, and watched movies. I didn’t get a drop of work done. It was a vacation in and of its self, he’s never going to believe that I usually get stuff done while he’s at work.

We have been working our way through some of the great Christmas classics this year. So many different versions of A Christmas Carol, the muppets, one with Patrick Stewart, a 1951 version, and of course Jim Carreys take on it. All amazingly good, if some of them are a bit corny. I think Jim Carrey is the best of the bunch.

My favorites though are the old, old classics, not that Dickens is in any way modern. I cried through It’s a Wonderful Life last night after mocking it for so long. Guess you really should try it before you knock it. What an incredible movie. Miracle on 34th st was very good ( the 1947 version, I didn’t know there was a ’94 version and I don’t think I want to try it ) but didn’t quite come close. I’m afraid I am developing a slight crush on Bing Crosby, after White Christmas and Holiday Inn. I think it’s because my dashing, debonair husband has the looks of Bing, of course he also has the heart of George Baily (Wonderful Life). Christmas movies are great, but we are saving the best for last. If not on Christmas eve this year, we are going to watch A Christmas Story closer to Christmas at least.

All this cold weather does have its down side of course. Last night in the middle of the night at 15 degrees below zero the power went out. We brought the child to bed with us to keep us all warmer. We let the cat in off of the back porch and tried to coax the dog in from off the couch, she did not want to join us. As it grew colder, even despite our cuddling, my poor husband braved the cold to head outside and dig out a generator. We have a big old monstrosity of a gas heater, that I love, but it needs power to the thermostat to run. The generator kept the heater going until it ran out of gas. There is a gas tank here on the place of course but it has an electric pump. By then The Goblin Child had finally settled in and stopped crying so we left it and managed not to freeze and even get a little sleep until power came back on about six.

Still at around 8 below my husband, very disappointed that there was no late start today, called in his own late start and did the feeding, with lots of ice chopping thrown for good measure, for me again today.