Ice Storm

Maybe I'm a whiner, or maybe I am just a truly introverted person who doesn't enjoy having my personal space invaded for days at a time. Five people (2 kids) holed up in a hotel room is not much fun. YES! I AM grateful that we had a hotel room available to us - with heat and TV and warm showers and a pool. Our house was freezing cold and I felt terrible for the cats. The whiny, ungrateful part of me was devastated that our town's Holiday Shopping Tour was canceled. We've been working on it for half the year and it was going to be awesome. The businesses are trying to pull together to reschedule it for this weekend - I really hope it succeeds. I probably don't need to mention that this time of year is crucial to the survival of our (tiny) business! We have a lot to make up for this year and missing a shopping weekend before Christmas can be devastating. Needless to say, we are working on getting a generator!

And again, I know that tons of people are still suffering heat and power loss, but my son is back in school today. I think his is the only school open in the state! But his school play was cancelled last week because of the storm and supposedly there is no make-up performance. How cruel is that?! These kids rehearsed like crazy and... nothing. There's got to be something that can be done.

Isn't it weird how your priorities change? And it's painful to be faced with how dependent we are on electricity too. As if there isn't already enough built-in stress to this time of year! Now we have all these other - important- things to worry about too. I think I'm feeling very "bah-humbug-y", but it seems like, even if I wanted to do something  Merry and Giving, that people only want cash or brand new toys. I don't feel very useful or Joyful. I just want to crawl into bed. I'd love to hear how others (introverts, especially!) salvage this time of year - or even how to make it wonderful. I mean it! I'd really like to at least TRY!