Our Story

Stewart and Stacey have been staying with us since the fire, through snow, power outages, and Christmas preparation. Stewart and Scott had planned to have a prime rib dinner for a long time. Scott went out the week before Christmas and purchased a 16 pound rib roast. It cost him about $70.00. They were so proud of their plans. Guess where the roast was! In Stewart's house. There was nothing left of the prime rib, even the refrigerator was disintegrated, so Scott barely made it out of town 2 days before Christmas and bought another one. We planned for a Christmas eve day celebration. Kathy had to work until 2:00, Jennifer and Dustin were supposed to be in Forest Grove at 5:30, and in Kelso on Christmas day, and Kathy's kids were going to Beaverton on Christmas day. So we worked it all out, dinner would be at 3:00, and we would have another dinner on Christmas day for those still here in Vernonia. Stewart got the prime rib on at 10:00 and I started the scalloped potatoes in the crock pot. I had salads made and most everything ready to go.

The first thing that happened was the green beans for the green bean casserole. I opened the package and it was icy and the beans were all shriveled up. We looked on the bag for the expiration date and it was June of 06. We put them back in the bag and we are taking them back to the store, not for the money so much, but for the carelessness of it. I open a package of peas.

Everything was coming along nicely when the power went out at 1:30. We left the prime rib roast in the oven and didn't open the door. We quickly put the potatoes in a Pyrex dish and put them on the barbecue and got the temperature up to 400 degrees.

Everyone came, except Marie, Daniel and Nicole from Eugene, and Stephanie and Logan from just over the hill. The roads were just too bad.

Nobody wanted to take off their coat, the house was cooling off quickly.

We had a wonderful dinner, great gifts, ( we finished opening them just as it was getting dark), and dessert by candlelight.

We tried to play cards by candlelight in the evening. Stewart and Mike are a team against Stacey and me in cribbage. At nine o'clock Christmas eve we went to bed to get warm.

Christmas morning Stewart suggested we get a motel in Hillsboro. We all headed out of town for Christmas morning breakfast at Sheree's. We had a wonderful breakfast and Stewart and Stacey went to get a motel. They called us when they were settled and we went to their motel and continued our cribbage tournament. I believe we are all tied up. Mike and I headed for home at about 4:30. Roxie was with us, but Kitty was home all alone. Mike dropped me off at the middle school and I enjoyed the warmth and good company of the people their. He came back down later, and watched "It's a Wonderful Life" for awhile. We went home and crawled into bed.

We got up yesterday morning, determined to go buy a generator. We joined Stewart and Stacey for breakfast. I had called Home Depot and Lowes and there were no generators. Stacey called Costco and they didn't have any either. We were sad because we knew we would have another night in the cold. We headed over to Costco so Stewart could order contacts, and we could pick up some batteries and a lantern. I was walking down the aisle and saw a generator on a cart being pushed by an employee. I asked if it was for sale and they said, "Yes. It is the last one and if you want it you'd better grab it." I grabbed it. We had a generator after paying $600, but we had been talking about it for years every time the power went out.

Stewart got some soft contacts that will last him until his others come in, we got a heater, lantern, and a generator. Stacey got a phone. Life is good!

We got home and Tim and Dustin helped get the generator set up and Stewart came with gas. Mike was happy, he could watch TV and I could get warm. We plugged in the freezer and refrigerator. Stewart and Stacey went back to the motel for the evening.

2:30 this morning the power came back on.

The green beans!
What was left of the prime rib.

Tim, Kathy, Tim, and Mike.

When the kids come, they always complain about our dull knives, so we got a knife sharpening kit from Tim and Kathy. Scott gave us a $100 of airplane miles. A cruise to Mexico sounds good. Stewart's and Stacey's gifts to us got burned up. Stacey told us about the neat bridge set she got me, oh well, we'll continue to play with used casino cards.

One of the gifts we gave each family were photos of them throughout the year. Stewart and Stacey don't have a wall to put them on, but will one day.

Scott liked his photos of his family, but it made him a little sad that they weren't here.

Tim's family.

Jamie is enjoying looking at the family calendar that I gave each family.

Jennifer is enjoying her Christmas eve day.

Kendall

This will be a Christmas that we all remember. Happy holidays to all of you, and God Bless You.