BARRY COUNTY, Mich. — It was a dark Christmas Eve at Fine Lake in Barry County’s Johnston Township as thousands remain without power.
Inside the Buckner home, 11-year-old Hailey and 9-year-old Mitchell were having a Christmas Eve they won’t soon forget.
Their father Jason is using a generator to power their most needed devices, and of course the tree.
Hailey said that she woke up Sunday morning to the devastation of the winter storm.
“I asked my dad what’s going on and he said the power is out. I was thinking I hope it’s not going to be out for long because I don’t want it to be out for Christmas,” said Hailey.
Hailey said on a typical Christmas Eve, the house is filled with relatives busy cooking their festive meal and exchanging gifts.
“We usually have people visit on Christmas and Christmas Eve, and on Christmas we usually have like maybe a sports game on or something. We usually eat like a regular kind of dinner with ham and mashed potatoes and stuff,” said Hailey.
Without power, the family made a slight change to the menu for their Christmas Eve feast.
“Just something simple. Hot dogs and cooking on backpacking stoves, and there you go,” said their father Jason.
The Buckner kids were keeping a positive outlook on the dark situation, adding that the outage was bringing them closer together.
“It’s not really exciting to not have power, but it’s a new kind of thing to do. It reminds you like of the days back then when some people didn’t have TV and stuff,” said Hailey.
On Tuesday evening, Consumers Energy predicted about 15,000 customers were still without power in Barry County, with hopes to restore electricity to everyone by Saturday.
