Holiday Home Safety

2004/12/12 Originally published in the Vernon Morning Star.

Keep your Christmas bright and happy by putting safety first. Start by keeping your driveway and sidewalks clear of snow and ice. Every year a few people slip, fall and break their wrist or hip. Do what you can to prevent these incidents, including good exterior lighting to illuminate your driveway and walkways.

Christmas lighting is an issue too. Carefully inspect wires, plugs and sockets to be sure there are no broken wires or worn components. Be sure to place wires where nobody will trip over them or slip on them.
Candles are lovely. But, if you light them, never ever leave them unattended. Candles are responsible for too many house fires.
Your natural tree is a thing of beauty, but it may well have been cut several weeks ago and may dry out quickly. Don't forget to keep it adequately watered. As time passes, it will dry out anyway. Don't plan on keeping the tree up if you can tell it's come to that stage. If it begins to drop needles you know it is time to remove it.
Speaking of living things, remember to watch children and pets around your poinsettias. You may not realize that they are toxic, even poisonous.

Then of course, there are safety rules for your turkey too, all to avoid food poisoning. Unstuffed frozen birds should be thawed before cooking. Thawing a large bird in the fridge may take several days, so buy the turkey well in advance. Leave it in it's original bag and place it on a tray in the fridge and thaw 1 to 2 days for 12-20 pounds and 3 to 4 days for 20-24 pounds. A faster way to thaw is to leave poultry well sealed in it's original bag and place it in cold water for 2 to 7 hours depending on size. Change the water frequently. When the flesh is pliable, the bird is ready to cook. Thawed poultry must be cooked at once and in a pre-heated oven.

After carving the turkey, wrap it well and get it cooled down and refrigerated without delay. Please don't ever give turkey bones to your pets. They are much too easy to choke on.

Keeping all this in mind should make for an incident free and illness free holiday season.

I wish you all homes full of love, laughter and good memories at this Christmas 2004 and all the very best in 2005.

Jane Field works with RE/MAX Vernon. Jane has over 30 years experience in the Real Estate business. To suggest topics for future articles or to ask Jane questions, email or call 503-3755.

RE/MAX Vernon | 250.503.3755 | Toll free 1.888.503.3755 | 5603 - 27 ST | Vernon | BC | V1T 8Z5 | Canada

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Holiday Home Safety