It didn’t feel like Christmas as Vic Baniuk and his wife, Gisela, woke up shivering Wednesday morning.

It was their fourth day in the cold without power.

“For us, there is no Christmas,” said Baniuk, 64, who lives with his wife and dog on Catalina Dr. in Scarborough’s Guildwood Village.

Normally, their children come down from Barrie to mark the holiday with a big family dinner, but with the lack of heat paralyzing activity in the house — Baniuk said his toothpaste is frozen and his joints have tightened up — the plan for Christmas supper this year was a can of chicken soup, boiled over a gas camping stove.

“My wife is so depressed she took the Christmas tree apart and put it away. Nobody’s coming here. It’s just us, and we’re just trying to survive.”

The Baniuks are among thousands of people in Toronto that are still in the dark after a violent ice storm ravaged the area Saturday night.

More stories from the ice storm

As power trickles back into blacked-out neighbourhoods, some of those left without electricity are frustrated it hasn’t returned. People told the Star Wednesday that they’re tired of battling the relentless cold by huddling at warming centres set up by the city, shacking up at local hotels or spending hours on end in restaurants to savour the heat.

For some Torontonians, in short, the blackout ruined Christmas.

“I’ve had a really rough ride in this disaster, and I’ve been totally shocked about the level of unpreparedness for the people that are supposed to be handling this,” said Baniuk. “You look at all the trees and all that’s left are these bent up sticks … It looks like you’re in a war-torn country.”

Baniuk added that he hasn’t seen any Toronto Hydro trucks in his neighbourhood, and that he’s had trouble getting in touch with anybody with the municipal government.

Chris Walder echoed Baniuk, describing how he and his parents seem stranded on their frozen street in Scarborough, near Orton Park and Lawrence Ave. He said he’s seen no sign of hydro workers, and all his neighbours have left for warmer pastures.

“I never thought it was going to get this intense,” said Walder, 25, adding that his family has been eating mostly fast food, and would spend Christmas night in a hotel.

“There’s nothing really to do. All our food is gone ... It’s the worst Christmas I’ve ever had, bar none.”

Irene Bolman lives on Rhydwen Ave. near Birchmount Rd. and Danforth Ave. Saturday’s storm knocked out power to her home and knocked down four elm trees in her front yard, scattering debris across the snowy lawn.

“It doesn’t feel like Christmas at all,” said Bolman. “We have to either sit in the car or go to a restaurant.”

On Christmas Eve, she said she and her husband Mike went to stay in a hotel on Christmas Eve. The next morning, she hopefully returned home, and was distressed to discover her house still frigid and dark.

“You do nothing else. You come back to make sure everything is OK, and you basically go someplace where you can eat and stay warm. And then you come back again. That’s sort of the way it goes,” she said.

On top of the interrupted festivities, Bolman said she was annoyed to discover weeks could pass before the trees are removed from her property. She called the city and was told that, since her trees are privately owned, she would have to hire an arborist to deem them unsafe or unsound, then file an application with the city to green light their removal.

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“We’ve had this disaster that’s occurred and they’re maintaining the same, time-consuming bureaucratic process,” she said. “The circumstances warrant a streamlined process.”

Peggy Mitchell, another Scarborough resident without power, had sharp words for Mayor Rob Ford, who repeated Wednesday that the situation was not a “state of emergency.”

“This has been an emergency for us from day one, as seniors,” said Mitchell, 70, who was unable to find a hotel until Wednesday night, and had to try to sleep wearing winter clothes and extra blankets.

The blackness and cold of the power outage did have a bright side for some, though. Tayaba Jafri sat with her cousins and mother in the lobby of the downtown Sheraton Centre Hotel on Wednesday. She booked a room there for her family when her mother, who suffers from heart trouble and undergoes three dialysis treatments per week, lost power at her Pickering home during the storm.

Jafri said she’s never had a Christmas like this, though it’s not all bad.

“It’s been interesting, but we’re thankful more than anything,” she said. “We’re still together and making sure everyone’s OK.”

A few kilometres away at the Real Jerk Restaurant on Gerrard St. E., Ed Pottinger decided to open shop to fry up some special Caribbean-style jerk turkey and other delights. He invited people without power to come by and “pay what you want” for a warm meal.

“We’re just hoping the people who don’t have power and can’t cook at home can get a little relief for a few hours,” said Pottinger.

For Baniuk and his wife, not to mention many others left in the cold and dark, the ultimate relief would be to spend the holiday with family in their own warm home. Instead, after Christmas dinner, Baniuk said he planned to hunker down by the fireplace, and try to get some sleep.

You can bet he’ll be dreaming about the lights on.

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