Everyone told us we should stay in Disney for Christmas, but I have to say, we had the merriest of Christmases cozied up in our little apartment, just the two of us. I wouldn't have had our first married Christmas any other way!
On our way home from Orlando, Christmas Eve, we stopped in at our local Publix and bought all the yummy appetizer food we could get our hands on. It's my family's tradition to sit around the tree together and eat delicious cheeses, meats and spreads. The "samples guy" in the store really suckered me in with his little cheese and crackers and we bought the whole set!
We arrived home in time to go to the candlelight service at our local Methodist church. One of the seniors at the senior center had invited me, and we were in the mood for a more traditional Christmas service than the chapel on base would likely have had. The cute little church reminded me a lot of my grandmother's church and felt very homey. The congregation is very small, about 40 people, and 90% of them look to be above the age of 70. I recognized many faces from the senior center, and got a big, welcoming hug from the nice man who had invited us. The service was beautiful, and we both got teary a few times - missing our families but feeling so full of love for each other and for our God who came as a baby to save us.
Back at home we got out all of our goodies, arranged the cheese and crackers, made a baked Brie with honey and berries, poured some sparkling cider and snuggled up together to eat our fill and reflect on a wonderful year. We each opened a gift. I got a warm stone massage kit from my thoughtful and loving husband who already gives me great massages every night before bed (seriously, I am so spoiled). He got a pretty wooden box set of the game Risk.
Christmas morning we slept in and cooked a big breakfast before opening presents. We spent a few hours playing Dave's new games - Stratego and Risk (I ALMOST one a round of Stratego).
Around 4pm our phones started ringing emergency alerts from our radar app. They said that a tornado warning was declared for our area. I opened the door and started hearing the siren on base with the loudspeaker shouting "TORNADO WARNING! SEEK SHELTER IMMEDIATELY". We looked around our apartment - no basement or good shelter here! Dave decided we would drive to base and go to their storm shelters. I filled up a water bottle, grabbed some snacks and we raced towards base. At the gate we asked where the shelter was located and the guard said that everything was closed for Christmas. GREAT! We turned around and raced home
The next 8 hours were very tense. Dave sat in front of the radar watching the meanest, reddest (with areas of purple!), scariest looking storm we had ever seen pass over us. I'm a northern gal, I want nothing to do with tornadoes! Dave laid towels in our tub and seriously freaked me out by saying that if only one of us could fit in it he wanted me to be the one. Thankfully we figure out a way to both get into the tub and be protected. The plan would be when we heard the tornado, we would pull the mattress into the bathroom and use it to sheild us in the tub. They say tornadoes sound like freight trains, whatever the heck that means. I guess we would know when we heard it.
Our families and many friends stayed up with us watching the weather, praying and checking in. It was amazing. Dave watched cells in the storm get close to us and then disperse around us. There were 34 tornadoes over the course of the evening, and not a single one hit us. We barely even had heavy rain. A town next to us had a tornado go through a trailer park, but we were kept safe. That was the power of prayer at work! We're still thanking God for his protection of us, and for protecting our base and all of the very expensive aircraft that were out in the storm because it was Christmas and nobody was around to take them to safety.
I was so relieved when the storm was beyond us at midnight. We fell into bed and had a much needed, peaceful sleep. What an adventure!
