This is what our street looked like after an ice storm in Brampton.

The biggest problem for many were old trees crashing down on power lines. This brought considerable power outages to Toronto where many lines are above ground. Our's are below ground and we only suffered a temporary loss of power (one minute).

There are more pictures of our street on my Facebook page.

The only comparable ice storm was further east in Ontario and Quebec (1998) which left one million people without power.

We spent half a day removing big branches from our driveway. There was a guy with a chain saw and he helped seniors who had their driveways blocked.

There was no rock ice to be found anywhere, so I used a couple of bags of ice melter that I bought at Loew's for $11 a bag. That wasn't all that effective. Fortunately, we had an ice cutting wedge to break up the ice and that worked better. I brought back the remaining three bags for a refund.

Hydro crews have been working hard over the last couple of days to bring power back, and apparently people are still in good cheer about Christmas too.

We've invited family over for a Newfie Christmas Eve dinner of salted Cod and sweets.

Some mummers may be able to dance through the ice branches on the street and the lawn. They may provide some warm laughs on a cold night.

For others, check out "Bad Santa" with Billy Bob Thornton. It was a hoot if you don't mind the language. The midget was priceless.

Have a very Merry Christmas.