A really cool (warm?) Christmas gift

My parents got me the niftiest thing for Christmas -- five pounds of rice enclosed in a rectangular flannel bag.

"Huh?" you might say. "Whatever for?"

I shall tell you, so listen closely at the ingeniousness of this marvelous thing.

At the end of a long, cold day in a big, cold house, you take your flannel bag of rice and put it in the microwave for two minutes. When the timer beeps, you turn the bag over and zap it for two more minutes.

At the end of that four minute period, you have a nicely warmed bag of rice that you can wrap your nightie in and stick inside your bed to make a cozy place to put your chilly feet.

I've found several other uses for it though. It is very nice to heat it for two minutes and arrange around my neck, if my neck feels stiff. Or even if I feel a little cold (for some reason, if my neck gets cold, the rest of me is cold, no matter how warmly I'm dressed), the bag of rice is perfect.

I've also heated it up and put it on the floor for my toes to rest on. I did this the other evening when we were watching The Bells of St. Mary's and felt deliciously warm all the way through the movie.

It's nice to put on your tummy or your back for period pains. I've even stuck it inside a pillow slip and put it in Wimzie's crate to warm her little mattress so that her poor old bones won't be stiff and achey.

Mom told me that a lady at their church sews these things up for a trifle. I absolutely love it and have used it enthusiastically every day so far. What a fun, unusual, useful gift.

Thank you, Nan and Poppy!