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This morning the Today Show did a segment on debunking traditional wisdom. They said it’s OK to go out in the winter with wet hair and turkey doesn’t make you sleepy. They also said fireplaces don’t make your house warm. I think the Today Show is wrong. The Today Show never spent the night with Mr. and Mrs. Peebles.

Robert and Frances Peebles lived in a wonderful traditional old Florida farm house and when Mother and Daddy went to the Florida Baptist Convention in November or the Pastors Conference in January, I often stayed with them. The fireplace in the livingroom was their home’s only heat source.

Mrs. Peebles was every kid’s favorite babysitter. She preferred taking care of kids in multiples so they could entertain each other. So, while my mother didn’t let me have spend-the-night company on school nights, when I was staying with Mrs. Peebles, she usually invited one of her granddaughters or one of my friends to spend the night too.

On those cold evenings, after bathtime we would put our clothes for the next day in the livingroom. We would stand close to the fire, turning to warm all sides, then run to get into a bed piled high with quilts.

The next morning, before they woke us up, Mr. Peebles would have a built a roaring fire and closed all the doors so the livingroom would be toasty warm. Mrs. Peebles would have spread our clothes on chairs to warm in front of the fire.

It was one of the warmest homes I’ve ever known.