Toasty warm and loving it.

I took this picture on my cell phone in the car this morning on the way to church. Just in case you can't tell, it's saying that the outside temp is -2 degrees. Weather-dot-com said that with windchill, it felt like -28 degrees out. We have a heater in our garage that we turn up just before loading up to head out, yes we are very spoiled. Ben turned it up to 60 degrees for us this morning. That means that it felt almost 90 degrees warmer in our garage than outside in the wind.

Last year, I griped a lot about the weather but this year I have a different perspective. For some reason I feel more grateful for the comforts we enjoy, especially during the winter. I guess I find it hard to complain when I was literally outside for less than 2 minutes today. We rode in a warm car to church and dashed into a warm building. Then, dashed from a warm building to a cold car that warmed up within a few minutes, and came home to a warm house. I often think of the pioneers during the winter but I can't dwell on it too much because it seems like an unbearable hardship. I just cannot imagine people being outside in this with no relief and yet that was the case. I especially cannot think too much about the children. It's hard to complain when, although the wind may be howling outside, my children have a safe, warm bed to sleep in and I don't have to worry about waking up to find them frozen. I don't mean to be depressing. I've just realized that a few minutes of discomfort here and there do not warrant the kind of ongoing complaining that I usually do during the winter. So, although I may still give extreme weather updates, it will hopefully be with a grateful attitude that I'm not out in it. Now, for some hot chocolate...