B-r-r-r-r-ring!

I think most of the Midwest was under an extreme weather advisory today. Not a flake of snow in sight. But temps just hovering below zero and wind chills well below zero -- like minus 25-35. Brrr.

It was definitely a good day to stay inside. Since it was my day off, I snuggled deep under the covers until 9 a.m. Wow. That was a mini-vacation right there. Then the day flew by with stuffing Christmas letters into the cards and licking envelopes -- which I prefer to licking a flagpole in the playground! I also wrapped whatever presents I had around the house.

And yes, though you need not ask, I did this while watching a few Christmas movies.

And yes, I did actually venture outside. Twice. The first time time was to run Christmas "thank you" cookies out to our garbage collectors. The second was to go bell ringing.

Carter joined me this time. And while we thought we were prepared for the cold, we weren't. I mean we aren't in the direct elements. We stand in this entryway between the outside door and the entrance to the store. It's only a decent temp, though, if no one is shopping and that outside door stays closed.

But it's a busy little grocery store. So we got pretty chilled despite how bundled up we thought we were! An hour into it, I actually went inside the store to buy some hand warmers to put in our shoes/boots. That helped.

What also helped was that people felt sorry for us and dropped more change into the Red Kettle.

And, what helped the most, was knowing that we were going home to a nice warm house after our two-hour shift. I said to Carter, "Can you imagine having to sleep out in this if you had no place to go?" It was definitely a reminder that we are so blessed to have a roof over our heads and we should not take that for granted.

If you think of it, take time to support the Red Kettle or any charitable efforts you can this holiday season -- and all year long. Also, please take a moment to pray for those seeking food, shelter, warmth and hope this Christmas time.

Some days we just don't realize how good we've got it.

Thanks be to God.