National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

I hope that all of you had a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We did, but it was one that we will certainly remember for reasons both good and bad. Now I am not complaining, because I have many blessings to count. But it was a very interesting two weeks......

It all started when I decided to actually clean out the refrigerator for our Christmas dinner preparations. I wanted a clean, sparkly white fridge for everyone to peek into since we were hosting our family dinner again this year. I noticed that the fridge wasn't as cool as it usually was, and I said something to my hubby who agreed with me. I kept on cleaning it out though, hoping that my fridge would appreciate my efforts and magically begin working properly again. Hey, I am a bit sleep deprived so I am allowed to be delusional. :) As I got to the freezer portion of my cleaning I discovered a large amount of frost on the inside of my frostless freezer. Uh oh! That's not a good thing. So we unplugged it and waited overnight to see how it would work the next day. I shoved all of my perishables into a plug in cooler that we have and put the not so perishables out in the garage. And I hoped and prayed. Hubby plugged the fridge in the next morning and we waited for it to cool. And we waited and waited and waited.......you get the picture.

I panicked. I couldn't cook Christmas Dinner without a fridge and dinner was the next day! Even if we decided to buy an new fridge there was no way that it could be delivered and hooked up in time. So we decided to move Christmas dinner to the following Sunday to allow us time to decide what to do. It sounded like a great idea! Except for the unrelenting rain that occurred on Saturday night.

I kept hearing the sump pump running all night long during that rain pouring down over the frozen ground. But the pump just didn't sound right. So I spent my time during Baby Boy's night feedings saying a little prayer. We have NEVER had a flooded basement, and we have lived here for almost 11 years. So I had a bit of hope. But I woke up on Sunday morning to the horrified meowing of our cats whom we lock in the basement at night to keep the from mischief. I opened the basement door and heard the sound of flowing water. The cats ran out of the basement as if they were fleeing for their very lives. Crap. The sump pump gave out and I had about an inch of water covering most of the basement floor on the day that we were supposed to have our make-up Christmas Dinner. Would we ever get to have our Christmas Dinner??? Would I ever not have a new mess to clean up? I woke my long suffering, appliance repairing hubby and told him of the delight that was waiting for him in the basement. He was thrilled. And we made plans to go OUT for Christmas Dinner that night because I gave up.

But I got a new refrigerator and sump pump out of the deal, so I should be set for another 11 years.......

Despite all of the commotion we still managed to share good times with our families. And we have some great stories to tell about Christmas 2008. I hope that you all had a great Holiday Season, minus the failing appliances!!