Since we were children, we have always loved wood burning fireplaces.
And though we didn’t have one inside our home, we admired them when we saw them inside other people’s homes.
So, we knew from that age that we wanted to have a fireplace when we became adults. Well, that idea abruptly went away when we realized how much labor went into maintaining a wood burning fireplace. We discovered this as teens when we all went on a trip in the mountains. And of course, we rented a cottage that came with a wood burning fireplace. We were so happy about this as it was the first time that we would get a chance to lay in front of an actual fireplace. We had it all planned out, we wanted to have boiling cocoa, eat cooking and lay with blankets while we watched the sparks flicker. As pleasant as that sounded in our heads, we didn’t think about all the prep work that was needed to start a fire. We were surprised that our dad knew what to do as we didn’t have a fireplace in our home. Prior to starting the fire, he checked the chimney for any excess debris, cleaned out the fireplace, checked the glass cover, and made sure that the gate was in enjoyable condition. All the prep labor that he did took about 20 minutes, and we are glad that we were able to see that process because it made us rethink getting a wood burning fireplace. Instead, we have settled for an electric version that we just plug into a wall and press a button to turn it on.