Christmas Visits

We all had a great Christmas. Went to RI to visit the family. The kids had so much fun playing all day.

Big Fire In A Small Town

It was two nights before Christmas. We picked up a pizza at the store around the corner. On the way back home, I said,"That's weird. The windows in the second-hand shop are all fogged up." We get home and settle in on the couch to watch It's A Wonderful Life. Just as George is about to jump off of the bridge, bright, orange lights came through the windows behind us. I turned around and there were flames pouring out of the building next door.

I yelled to everyone that the building was on fire. I dialed 911. Sean warmed up the car and the kids wandered around, not knowing what to do. As the operator put me on hold to contact the fire department, I told the kids to get on shoes and coats and get out in the car. The operator came back and asked me where we were. When I told her, she told me to get out of there. As everyone was running around to leave, we notice Y. Sean walking up the road. Sean quickly ran out and hollered at him. We grabbed the dog and left in the car.

We rode around for a while, all nervous and wondering if we were going to have a home after tonight. As we headed back, all we could see was the orange sky and smoke. They had blocked traffic so we couldn't tell if the house was safe or not. Y. Sean walked down to the bridge and was able to see that the house was still fine at this point. This all started just after 8pm. At around 10 they told us we wouldn't be allowed back down there for another 4-5 hours at least. At this point, I had Sean drive me and Riley into town where we could stay warm and cozy at the hotel.

We got settled in with a show on cable (a nonexistent thing at our house) that Riley enjoyed. Just enough to get her mind off of the fire and all of those Christmas presents that she hadn't even gotten a chance to see yet. We went to sleep just after 11. Sean called at 12:30 to let us know they were in the house and everything was fine.

The next morning, Sean picked us up early and we brought breakfast back to the house. The temperature was -9. We were in and out of the house all day watching the demolition of this once beautiful old building. They say it was built in 1913. Upstairs was the Masonic Hall as well as an art studio. Downstairs was a second-hand clothing store/food cupboard. All was lost. No insurance to cover the contents.