We couldn’t wait to spend Christmas this year in the south instead of up north.
I’ve always felt a little guilty about leaving a winter that was perfectly mild for one that calls for a gas furnace. Actually, during the winter, we hardly ever use the heat pump at home for heating. For example, on a chilly morning, we can usually get by with the space heater on for an hour. I detested having to pack up and travel 1,000 miles up north where I would have to endure a week of ice. Around this time last year, my wife and I came to the conclusion that staying home for the holidays made more sense because the kids were older by this point. To spend the entire winter in the heat pump country made me very happy. The fact that my wife’s parents would be visiting us for about two weeks came along with that, though. Spending so much time with the in-laws is unusual. They also have very different heating requirements, which did not excite me all that much. Despite the fact that it is only in the single digits there during Christmas, I would always be sweating inside their house because the gas furnace was constantly running. Before my wife’s parents came to visit, I made the decision to start that first. With the help of this visit, I was able to modify the house’s HVAC system so that the entire building has zone-controlled HVAC. My in-laws’ room had a thermostat when they arrived, so that is what they experienced. As long as it was in the visitor area, they could perform the necessary heating. I think the in-laws enjoyed the zone controlled HVAC because we actually had the best Christmas I can recall.