Frozen (and I don't mean Elsa and Olaf!)

So, I know I was going to be more consistent with my blogging, but Mother Nature threw me a curve ball.  She decided to blanket the northeast in 10" of snow and ice on Thanksgiving Eve.  While it was awfully pretty, it did mean that we lost power for 2 days.  

See, really pretty.  Too bad it weighed a ton and brought all the trees down on the power lines.  Try baking Apple Pie Bites with Salted Caramel Sauce when you have no power.  After checking in with the in-laws, we unloaded the fridge and freezer (most of it straight into the trash, the rest in a cooler to borrow space in their freezer) and headed an hour north to them and threw the dessert in their oven and jumped in their shower!  No joke, dried off, got dressed, pulled the pie bites out and the power died there too!  Phew!  At least we had dessert and caramel sauce!  

We trekked further north to the cousins who, thankfully had a generator and ate a lovely meal with 32 relatives!  The apple pie bites were a HUGE hit!  The kids had a blast playing in the snow (so typical for a New England Thanksgiving!).

We decided to throw in the towel as my in-laws had not regained power by the time our bellies were stuffed.  We headed back home.  We'd rather be cold in our own beds than warm on someone's floor.  2 long days of no heat and no power.  We joined the rest of town at a fast food establishment simply because there was nothing else open.  And, being Black Friday, we didn't want to hit the mall or any of the restaurants in the city, figuring everyone else was there.  The kids were troopers...despite no internet or TV options, they survived with watching Cars (the only thing loaded on our ipad) multiple times and playing games with flashlights.  Thankfully they are easily amused!  We all did the happy dance when the power finally returned 48 hours later.  

Moral of the story...appreciate the small things!  You never know when the power might go out and you will spend the next 48 hours attempting to turn on every light switch and getting mad at yourself, knowing they don't work, yet habit dictates that you try each time!  :)

Next up: a list of my favorite Christmas Cookie recipes