By the time you read this your Thanksgiving Day meal will be over, dishes will be done, and you will have (hopefully), gotten a nice sleep with visions of pumpkin pie dancing in your head.

Now, what if you woke up to no electricity? None. What would you do? How would you warm up those yummy leftovers? How would you read when it got dark? How would you keep yourself and your family warm?

This was an exercise that Kellene Bishop of the wonderful, www. preparednesspro.com, orchestrated along with several of her neighbors. They all agreed to go without electricity for 24 hours; from 5 PM one night until 5 PM the next. This was a wonderful experiment that taught each family where the "holes" were in their emergency preparedness.

I do believe that this is an excellent way to prepare yourself and your family for any eventuality. Last week I wrote about preparing your car for an emergency should you ever become be stranded. What about taking your family up into the hills or mountains where you live and pretend that you are stranded in a snow storm, or that your car has broken down and you have to wait until morning to go for help. Now, wouldn't THAT be interesting? Could you live out of your car until help came?

When it comes to our electricity, I don't think any of us have a clue as to how "plugged in" we are. Some of the things Kellene and her neighbors discovered were the following:

•  Light is crucial and a few flashlights, while good, won't cut it. Remember, there won't be TV, Internet, RedBox, iPads, or any other techy invention to keep you company. Good books, and games are a must, and Kellene figured it took 2 good kerosene lamps to even read properly.

•  Speaking of games, have a few on hand that your family will enjoy playing together. This will pass the time as the children de-tox from not being "plugged in" to social media.

•  Do you know where your flash-lights, matches, kerosene lamps and kerosene, are? Could you find them in the dark?

•  I recently wrote that I keep glow-sticks in my night-stand and suggested that you do the same. These will keep you from stumbling in the dark while you locate the things you need.

•  Do you have enough blankets for warmth?

•  Do you have a good old fashioned alarm clock? With extra batteries?

•  Could you warm up some food or water? I love the following idea that Kellene wrote about following the No Electricity experiment.

"You might not be aware of this, but you can actually kill a few birds with one stone when you use kerosene lanterns," said Kellene. "The light of a kerosene lantern puts out the same amount of light as a 60 watt bulb, and they also put out a great deal of heat, especially out the top.

You can purchase cooking grids to go on top of your kerosene lamps and then put a good quality pan on top of that to boil water, make soup, or even to get a pressure cooker to full pressure. Now if you want to go really Boy Scout, you can simply turn a tomato guard upside down, bend down the tines so that it holds a pan level, and now you're cookin' - literally. Obviously, with this kind of heat output from your kerosene lamp, you can also count on it to put out some great heat for your environmental control.

By the way, did you know that you can burn your oils that have gone rancid for sources of lighting? Yup. So don't feel too bad about that nasty canola oil garbage. At least you can burn it for light."

•  Do you have some heavy blankets, quilts or a tarp and duct tape handy? When the heater is no longer working, it is amazing how quickly our homes can become quite cold. Putting up a thick tarp, blankets or quilts from the ceiling in front of doorways, or entry points in your home, can really help to seal in the warmth.

•  What about extra wick for the kerosene lamps? Rolls of wick may be purchased at most camping stores. Tuck the extra wick in the box your lamp is in to make it easy to find.

•  Invest in some of the battery operated, under the counter lights. Put them under kitchen counters, in bathrooms, as night-lights in bedrooms, etc.

Preparedness, whether it's about food, cars, 72 hour kits, or what have you, is highly individual. What works for my family may be completely different for yours. (Remember, my son wanted Pop Tarts and not granola bars in his 72 hour kit). The point is to experiment, involve the family, and make a game out of it. Play your own 24 hour version of the TV show, "Survivor" and see how you do. It is a lot easier to work out the kinks when you still have the option of turning on a light! As for me, I'm going out to buy another kerosene lamp. I like to read!