You may have heard, but we’ve had a major ice storm across Southern Ontario this weekend. There are trees down everywhere, thousands of homes are without power (and will be until after Christmas) and many without heat too. We were lucky and have only had our power flicker a bit.
Everything is covered in a thick layer of ice – tree branches, sidewalks, cars, stairs, power lines. I drove by the forest and it looked like something out of a movie – just a crazy winter wonderland of tree frozen in place.
I couldn’t believe how thick the ice was. It took us over an hour to chip it off of two cars with three of us working on them.
Before I came out to help, Garrett and his friend saw this tree split in half and take down a power line as it fell to the street. You could hear trees breaking all over the place, and I’ve heard that in many tree-lined streets in Toronto, it has been devastating.
Our great tragedy was Garrett’s snow brush bit the dust. It just couldn’t handle the pressure.
Before the storm hit on Saturday evening, my family drove out to the quaint town of Port Perry, Ontario to celebrate my sister and brother’s birthdays and to do some last minute Christmas shopping.
There were so many cute shops – eclectic jewelry, miniatures/dollhouses, Scottish tartans (a must see for fellow Scottish Canadians), Christmas ornaments, and much more.
We went out to lunch at Harp & Wylie’s, a nice grill house near the water. The food was great, especially the garlic frites. I need to find a way to recreate those.
Despite the freezing rain starting to come down, it was a great afternoon with the family. I can definitely see us coming back again in the warmer months to walk along the lake.
Last night was Garrett’s family’s Christmas and we had a wonderful time. Lots of yummy food, great conversation, a Harry Potter marathon and some fun gifts.
This Star Wars helmet Garrett’s cousin received was a huge hit, as was Garrett’s zapping lighter prank (he got me with it once before I caught on).
Whiskey had a great time hanging out with their three dogs and cat, until they all started to crash after dinner. Turkey does that to me too.
There are few things that I find cuter than a cuddly pup curled up on the couch fast asleep under the glow of the Christmas lights.
I’m really looking forward to going home to my parents’ place after work today. I’ll be staying there for the next couple of days and just soaking it all in.
There will be baking and cooking and wrapping gifts, followed by Christmas movies, reading by the fireplace and catching up with family. I can hardly wait.
[…] on it, not knowing it was a blog at all, and the first post I can remember reading was “An Icy Start to Christmas” – in relation to the major ice storm of December 2013. I was immediately intrigued […]