The Power of Christmas Chapter 1

It was going to be different this year and it was. Just not what we had anticipated. As the saying goes, make plans and God laughs.

For the first time in many years Grandma was coming to enjoy great grandson Joseph's reaction to Christmas. Arriving between snowstorms on Saturday was the first miracle. Of course as usual I was sporting my end-of-year illness. Don't know what it is about holidays or vacation time, but I tend to get sick. And it's not pretty-red eyes, harsh cough, miserable all over. The type of cold that scares small children & causes cats to hiss. Everything was ready & the next to last run to the store for supplies had occurred as we all settled in for a long-winter's nap puncutuated by my hacking a lung up every few minutes. Thus I was able to hear the constant and glorious gunshot sound of tree limbs snapping and falling throughout an ice storm filled night.

At 4:30 am an alarm sounds as Grandma's oxygen machine goes into emergency shut-off mode. Ruh roh. We wake Grandma and hook her up to the battery operated model hoping to see power back within our 4-hour window. No such luck. Dragging the 30 year old generator from the basement, we needed to drain all the old gas out before we could attempt ignition. We were both covered with gas vapors as well as the floor of the garage, rugs, etc. by the time that little task was completed. Good news - the trusty ancient generator starts on the 3rd pull! Ok we're good for a while & able to charge up Grandma's machines. On the phone to find a hotel, as something tells me this "ain't" gonna end quickly or neatly.

Scored a room & we headed to check-in before the similarly affected powerless got there. After checking in we headed off to find breakfast and hit 3 places before we found one that was 1) with power; 2) not packed or at least a reasonable wait. Back to the hotel running on battery power. Got through the outside door & entered a dark? hallway. With a sinking feeling, I felt my way down the hall on emergency lights only to find the hotel had lost power in that 30 seconds between getting through the outside door and hitting the hallway. Humerous aside, Burt was stuck outside the hotel with a pile of equipment, because duh, the door locked behind us when we went in. Tried calling my cell phone to no avail as it was with my gear in the darkened hallway. Making my way to the front desk & gently (for me)suggested they needed to have some explanation or game plan for the hordes who would be making their way to the front desk to find out what the "H" they were going to do for them? They were reluctant to venture any ideas, but I did find out they had no back-up generator.

I promptly solicted a note from the manager to cover their lack of accomodation as they already had my credit card. Anther humerous note. The one in a million time that I actually shopped at Target was during the nasty time of stolen cards so obviously I was a little sensitive to bogus charges being applied. I really feel for the family who was having their family Christmas party in the hotel conference room with the husband optimistically saying, hey there's enough light through the windows to do this thing. I can't describe the looks he was getting.

Racing across the street to another hotel (I know-what was the logic in that?), I found they were freshly out of power too, though I did see their elevator going up-wondered what that was all about. Turns out a power pole had snapped just up the street moments before taking the transformer with it. We discovered that piece of intelligence as we tried to go south & found our way blocked by the afore mentioned power pole and a mess of wires in the road. As it is now afternoon, looking for hotels now became a crisis issue or at least a power issue. I envisioned sitting in an open McD's plugging in our oxygen machine. Appearances are nothing in crisis mode. Making our way to another hotel, I entered the lobby to hear that power had flickered, all computers were down & they weren't making any guarantees. Back in the car, I started calling hotels finding either no answer or no power. Back into the iffy hotel only to hear two parties ahead of me that they were booked.

Heading to another hotel a short distance away, I threw myself on the mercy of the front desk. Crazy scene. The phone rang constantly & the front desk person had a housekeeper helping her. Remember I am sporting the red-eyes & hacking cough of the truly deranged. Finally, with a catch in my voice, I said "hey-I am here before the phone call people". They agreed & found a room on the 3rd floor with a bed & fold-out couch, and miraculously-electrical plugs!
Ok-recharging completed. Everyone exhausted a quick run to the nearby Wendy's would suffice for dinner. After an hour wait (yes there were that many people) they had run out of chili, potatoes, etc etc. Chicken was left in abundance for some reason. Drama over for the day, well not quite.

At approximately 12:30 am the familiar alarm of a powerless oxygen machine goes off. Really dude. Pitch black fumbling around trying to shut the d--- thing off switch to battery mode. Meanwhile the sound of the alarm awakens the 3rd floor & we hear the excited voices of our neighbors trying to figure out what's going on. After turning it off, we just laid low & didn't enlighten anyone of what caused the alarm. It could have been a mob thing out there... Anyway an hour and half later the lights came back on and stayed on. Whew.