During a stressful year, Dallas families look for joy amid major snowstorm

The power was out at Brooke McCollum’s house all morning. Her husband, an analyst, struggled to meet work deadlines without Internet access.

So it was easy for them to start feeling on edge in the cold house, as the inside temperature dropped into the 50s, with no idea when the lights would flicker on again. But then they considered the day from their kids’ perspective. Time to chill out, they decided.

“We’re having our adult problems, but they’re having their kid perspective on this,” McCollum said. “If we don’t calm down, all they’ll remember of the great snow storm of 2021 is that their parents were stressed out.”

So she watched with a smile as her sons Mills and Henry, 8 and 10, rolled around in the shimmering white powder that transformed their Far North Dallas neighborhood. The boys joined the other neighborhood kids in using trays and coolers to sled down a snowy driveway across the street.

“Car!” they’d yell out in warning, whenever one approached slowly down the unsalted road.

It’s been a stressful year for Texas families. Monday’s record-breaking winter storm meant even more concentrated time at home than the pandemic had already created, now with the added pressures of power outages and freezing temperatures.

Several Dallas families told  that they’re holding up and trying to make the most of it.

Eduardo Colon, 25, said that almost every weekend, he and his family hang out around their fire pit. They’ll often sing karaoke, tell scary stories or play the Lotería card game while sitting around the flames, he said.

When his family’s home in Old East Dallas lost power Monday, Colon and his brother decided it might feel warmer to sit outside by the fire pit rather than inside as the temperature plummeted. If you don’t think about the wind, he said, Monday could be considered a beautiful day.

“Being outside together, just having a little laugh and a little talk, is better than just being covered up in your room,” he said, after roughly 12 hours without power.

The last time skies dumped snow on Dallas, power went out at Shundrica Jones’ grandparents’ home in South Oak Cliff for a week. They didn’t have a gas stove or a way to cook food indoors, so her grandfather hauled his barbecue pit onto the patio and made meals in the cold.

Jones promised her grandparents they would never have to worry about that again. She arranged for a gas cooktop to be installed to prevent the same thing from happening the next winter storm or power outage. The new appliance is one of the reasons her grandmother’s home became a gathering spot for the family during this snow storm, as power outages rendered electric stoves useless.

Seven people, including Jones’ grandmother, uncle, cousins and their two young kids, congregated at the house, which had power as of Monday afternoon. Family members traveled from Wilmer after losing their own electricity at 2 a.m. Monday.

The group of seven spent the majority of the day huddled indoors, dressed in layers, making sure all their electronics were attached to chargers just in case the power goes out again. If the electricity does fail, the family plans to charge their phones from their cars, but they don’t want to drive anywhere else in this weather.

For all the disruption, Jquaylon Jr. and Ayannah Mitchem, ages 3 and 4, didn’t seem too bothered by the extraordinary circumstances. Like the McCollum boys, they were singularly focused on the snow outside, Jones said.

“They attempted to build a snowman, but it didn’t make it,” she said. “They trampled over the bottom part, so we ended up just making snowballs.”

Jones is a teacher and her school already canceled class for tomorrow. She’s worried about her students and what they are going through in their own homes. She wonders if they are safe and warm — or if they have the ability to make food.

It feels like there’s not much else that can be thrown at teachers or families these days, but Jones has remained positive.

“I count it all joy,” she said, “it just means we’ll be prepared for anything in the future.”