My house was cold and dark on Dec. 31, 2005. It was the first holiday season my children would experience with mom and dad apart, and that day they were to go to Daddy’s for the day and come home to Mom in the afternoon. They were little, and the prospect of no cartoons for them or coffee for me was daunting. After determining that Daddy had power, I delivered them early and got prepared.
It was a wonderful, blustery winter day in the San Francisco Bay Area. I didn’t mind the weather or the outage. After dropping off my children, I stocked up. I purchased firewood, fuel for my camp stove, lots of candles and matches, and snacks. I then drove to Ocean Beach to enjoy the rain, and right on schedule I returned to fetch my children.
“Is the power still out Mommy?” they asked anxiously. I told them I didn’t know yet, but not to worry. We arrived home while there was still light, so we quickly made a nest for ourselves in our living room in preparation for a cold, dark night.
We made a delightful game of it. The sofa cushions were placed on the floor, the PapaSan cushion was just the right size for my little girl, and we scoured the house for the best of our comforts. Soon our favorite cozy things were assembled in our little nest. I hung a blanket over the doorway to keep the heat in, and we built a fire in the fireplace and filled the room with cheerful candlelight. The teddy bears and dollies joined us for our impromptu New Year’s Eve party. Pizza Hut had power, so we had our New Year’s Eve dinner delivered. We feasted and told stories. We sang songs and giggled. We talked about the past year, which had been very hard. We enjoyed each others’ company, which we discovered we liked best of all.
We decided to chase out the old year for good. By candlelight, we marched through our cold, dark house. We shouted and banged on pots and pans. My son shot his toy gun, determined that 2004 had to go. After sending that tiresome old year packing, we returned to our warm and cozy cocoon, well satisfied with our night’s work. We welcomed the New Year with snuggles, songs, and giggles.
Sometime in the early hours of 2006, the power came back, and the children were disappointed. I reassured them that we didn’t need a power outage to do this again next year, and so a tradition was born. Year after year, including some very difficult ones, we chase out the old and enjoy the new together.
Most years now we shut down all the power and camp in the living room, a cheerful fire in the fireplace, and eat our traditional pizza. Daddy likes his grown up time on New Year’s Eve, so I always have my children and I enjoy it. Even when other things are on the agenda during the day, we come back to our nest and camp. When I tried to deviate from the tradition there was great upset, so this year once again we’ll ring in the New Year cozied up in my living room, four of us now since I married their stepfather three years ago. He’s a good sport and it’s a good thing, because our annual “power outage” is here to stay!