Last year, my family gathered at my house for Christmas instead of my parents. Unfortunately, the stomach virus decided to visit with us and many of us were affected by it at some point, which really put a damper on the whole thing. One thing we kept saying was that we were so glad we were at my house (4 bathrooms) instead of my parents (one bathroom) because there were 13 of us needing one and sometimes it was quite urgent.
This year we gathered at my parents house (still one bathroom) and we lost power because of an ice storm. Thankfully, they had a generator that was able to keep the well going for water, the furnace running for heat, and the fridge running, along with a few lights and outlets for charging. *side note* - it's not easy to explain to a 6 year old that we don't have power so he can't watch a movie while he's staring at the ceiling light that's on. When you have to pick between being able to flush a toilet or watch a movie, toilet wins every time. If we would have lost power at my house, we would not have been comfortable at all. No generator would mean no water and only a fireplace for heat.
At one point, my brother said, "I'd rather be without power than be sick again!" And while I agreed, I did wonder if there was an option c.
We came home on Monday afternoon and spent some time putting things away and then did a little shopping. Tuesday was spent cleaning and really getting things put away because my parents and my sister and her family were going to come on Wednesday for dinner. On Christmas day, we opened gifts, had breakfast and then did a little last-minute cleaning before family arrived. It was a very relaxing afternoon and I thoroughly enjoyed the time together.
Today, I looked around and realized that my "after-Christmas" chores have been done. When you have family Christmas early and then invite people over, things tend to get put away. I've actually started cleaning out our storage area and am ready to organize and purge. And we still have more than a week off!
