A Sabbath Without Church

It's been cold and miserable around here all weekend, but we still did not expect the call we got at 10:00 Saturday night. Our friend Erik called to inform us that, due to the roads getting slippery with ice, there would be no church services on Sunday. Shortly thereafter, I got three more calls, from our home teacher, my Elders' Quorum president, and the bishop, all saying the same thing, so we knew it had to be true. We also found out that the stake choir's rendition of Handel's "The Messiah", the highlight of the season, was also canceled.

We initially thought this quite the over-reaction. After all, I had been out all afternoon, going to the mall with Morgan, taking Joshua to his cousin's birthday party, going to the store for groceries. Then we noticed the weather forecast calling for freezing drizzle, and realized that the roads would get slick very quickly. We also have people at church who attend from much further away then us, who would have to brave icy roads for much longer, people whose sense of duty would not allow them to miss church unless it were canceled. People like me, except from longer distances.

So, we stayed in. It was good to sleep as long as we wanted for the first time in what felt like ages, not waking up until 10:00. I read my e-mails, and then puttered about the morning studying a lesson that I would have had to teach had there been church, that I will have to teach next week. Later, I decided to make something special for us, and made one loaf's worth of French bread dough, which I then split into 16 little rolls. Once they rose, I stamped them with a heart-shaped cookie cutter, then baked them. I am resolving to get our own digital camera soon, because they were cute. They also went nicely with turkey, peanut butter, orange blossom honey, and cinnamon butter.

The afternoon was largely wasted doing something I had not done in almost two years: watching pro football. It was good, but I wish I hadn't. I found it was really hard to fill that time that I would normally spend at church, doing something Sabbath-friendly. So, rather than sit around and watch the idiot box any longer, I went upstairs and threw myself into the kitchen. I started our spaghetti sauce, spent another hour studying my lesson again, then baked some snickerdoodles before finishing dinner. Yeah, my family enjoys my boredom even if my waistline doesn't.

Now we're watching Bewitched on TV and lounging about, and it doesn't feel like Sunday. It just feels like another Saturday. This is not a good thing.