With the holidays in full swing, many families along the coast are still thinking about the devastating impacts left behind by recent storms.

Wilbur-by-the-Sea is one of those communities rocked by Hurricane Nicole. 

"There used to be a deck in the back," said Kyle Petersen, who spends each Thanksgiving with his family at the beach.

Property owners have spent days making as many repairs as possible for the few homes that haven't been condemned.

Chad Hoge and his family have spent the last week doing everything they can to salvage his mother's home.

She's owned the property for 25 years, and her entire backyard was washed away by powerful waves crashing against the coast.

"Well, when we saw the house on the Weather Channel, it was pretty traumatizing," Hoge said. "We were pretty sure it was going to fall in."

Hoge says it took a team effort to salvage the property as the home sat on a hurricane-formed cliff.

That included brothers, cousins like Petersen, and friends filling 1,400 sandbags to help stabilize the home. The crew also planted 1,100 plants.

 "My Thanksgiving really was made when Volusia County told me the house was OK for occupancy and we could have Thanksgiving here," Hoge said.

After days of hard labor, he and his family say the holidays remind them of what they're most grateful for this year.

"We love this place," Hoge said with a smile. "My family has loved it for years and years, and this has made it even more important to us because we saved this house as a family."