It was not a popular decision when it came to my wife and her parents.
But my kids think I’m just the best dad to ever live.
After more than 15 holidays spent inside the gas furnace heating of my in laws, I’m hanging it up. Truly, I’ve always hated having to go north for the winter. I live in the south for a reason and one of those reasons is the mild winter. Our winter is just lovely here and the heat pump really doesn’t get much of a workout at all. So why in the world would I want to trade that for freezing temperatures outside and a gas furnace sauna inside at the in laws? Frankly, I just wanted to do the right thing and also make my wife happy. My parents have been gone a long time so I wanted to also be sure that the kids had a great connection with their grandparents. And now that the kids are in their early teens, it’s time for us to stay inside our own quality heating and air for Christmas. Breaking this to my wife was delicate business. I came prepared with a plan that included plenty of notice and an offer from them to come here. I would even be the bad guy and break the news to the in laws. Still, it hasn’t gone over all that well. It’s summer here and the central air conditioning is going like crazy. But you’d think that we were weeks away from Christmas with all the drama fallout from my decision.