When my sibling invited us to come stay with him for the holidays, I was excited.
I had yet to see his new household and my niece was going to be in a school play anyway… Because he lives up north, I packed as various hot clothes as I could.
I remembered that even stepping outside to get to the vehicle could be downright painful. I drove about eight hours to get to his venue, so by the time I arrived, I just wanted to shower and relax. He provided me a limited tour and showed me to my room. I observed that the household was a little cold, but I figured it was because it around zero outside. I took a really tepid shower and dressed in sweats and a sweatshirt. I then donned my big heavy socks and headed down to the living room. I did notice along the way that various of the doors to rooms were closed, but didn’t think much of it. It is an older farmhousehold so I figured that maybe they just didn’t use those rooms. I found out later, during dinner, that they kept those rooms closed off during the winter because the Heating, Ventilation and A/C system was not powerful enough to keep the whole household warm, however they had just bought the household in late Springtime and were told that the Heating, Ventilation and A/C system was fine, now, they were stuck, without usual heat for the long frosty winter. He said that by keeping the vents closed in those rooms and closing the doors, it allowed the Heating, Ventilation and A/C system to only have to heat the limited area. In fact, the room where I was staying was normally closed off too.