I first encountered a hot water bottle in Kenya. My husband was a young medical student and our first born, Micah was 18 months. We were at the end of a six week rotation and had the benefit to go on safari at the famous Maasai Mara National Reserve. We were in these tent hotels on the upper (thankfully) banks of the river. Each morning and night you could hear the hippos calling out to each other (click the word hippos for a cool video). It was so romantic without the fear of hippos coming to your tent! Each night the hotel staff would make our bed and put a hot water bottle in it to counter the cool of the evening. It was amazing. We had no idea.

Years later we had the experience of hot water bottles again in England while on a retreat. I spent a delightful evening with men and women from the United Kingdom spinning tales of their childhood hot water bottle comforts. I had NO idea! You better believe when we returned back to our flat in Liverpool, I found a hot water bottle at Boots, the local pharmacy! It was so dreamy. It was so cold and we didn’t have money to heat our flat properly and water bottles did the trick. We bought them in Uganda and each night, I would fill the bottles for each of my children and myself. My husband IS a hot water bottle and doesn’t need one. For three years, that was a nightly ritual and comfort. We continued this tradition back in the U.S. because my husband cannot stand to spend too much money on the electric bill. Our house can be chilly. The hot water bottles do the trick. But then tragedy struck. I have had two burst on me! These were bought in the U.S. and they do say don’t pour boiling water in them—what are you supposed to pour in there?? I admit I have not had time to research this.

I recommend if you live in an area where you don't have good heat, you can invest in a hot water bottle. What I do is early in the evening, I fill it, put it in the body section of where the person is going to sleep. Then, when we go to bed, we put it at our feet. Now, my youngest daughter would sleep on it and God spared her of it bursting. After mine burst, we discontinued this tradition and just loaded up on the blankets. It’s not the same…

Get yours in the UK. In Africa, we found them in the shops too, you just have to keep your eyes open. They seem to come from Kenya or the UK!

For the record, I also had NEVER heard of a duvet cover or a goose down comforter until I lived in Hungary!! I grew up in Texas where we sleep with ice packets! HA!

You can never get enough of baby hippos.