As I walked home from our evening worship service tonight, the side of my face nearly froze. Â It’s about -7 and feels (apparently) like -14. Â I tend to think that is a little bit on the high side. Â It feels *much* colder than that. Â One of the video backgrounds for one of the songs tonight had pictures of the lighthouse in St. Augustine, Florida which is where we spent the week between Christmas and New Year’s this year. Â Being as cold as I was, I was thinking longingly of spending time on the beach in my shorts.
Every year around Christmas, we go away for at least a couple of days. Â This is a tradition picked up from Amy’s parents. Â Their anniversary is New Year’s Eve and they go away every year, usually to the Pillar and Post B&B in Niagara-on-the-Lake. Â We’ve emulated this pattern every year since we got married.
Since we were married on Dec 23, we had time to go up and visit Amy’s gramma. Â She wasn’t able to come down for the wedding so we drove up to Meaford to see her. Â We were able to stay at Bill & Cheryl Schwarz’ house (before they sold it, obviously). Â The water heater had been off for some time and so we got to have cold, cold baths. Â Super cold. Â I have dim recollections of heating water on the stove but I’m sure it wouldn’t have been enough. Â We brought our wedding clothes with us and changed into them before we went to see her. Â When we came into her room she said “Well, upon my word!” and was very excited to see us. Â Since this was well before we had a digital camera, we bought a disposable one and somebody in the home took some pictures of us with her. Â She looked pretty pleased. Â I don’t remember too much else of staying up there apart from finding out that the air mattress had a leak by waking up on a cold, hard floor, but I remember that she was really glad to see us and super proud to be showing us off to her friends. Â Amy’s great-aunt Emma (who has been blind for years and years) felt the raw silk of Amy’s dress and told her that she looked beautiful. Â It was really special.