We were so happy to skip the annual Christmas trip up north.
I had always felt a little bad about leaving a winter that was perfectly mild for one that required a gas furnace to stay warm.
In fact, during the winter at home, we hardly ever use the heat pump for heating at all. For instance, on a chilly morning, we can usually manage with the space heater turned on for an hour. I despised having to pack up and travel 1,000 miles up north where I would have to endure a week of ice. My wife and I decided around this time last year that staying home for the holidays made more sense because the kids were older. I was overjoyed to spend the entire winter in the heat pump country. But that was accompanied by the announcement that my wife’s parents would be visiting us for about two weeks. That much time with the in-laws is a lot. Additionally, the fact that they have very different heating requirements didn’t exactly excite me. I would sweat in their house because the gas furnace was constantly running, even though it’s only in the single digits up there during Christmas. I made the decision to take care of that before my wife’s parents arrived. This visit gave me an excuse to modify the existing HVAC system so that the entire house has zone controlled HVAC. My in-laws’ room was equipped with a thermostat when they arrived. If it was in the guest area, they could perform the necessary heating. The best Christmas I can recall was actually spent with us, and I believe the zone-controlled HVAC system was a big hit with the in-laws.