It was Christmas Eve, and as was our tradition my whole family was gathered in the living room to watch movies and eat snacks. My wife made caramel popcorn, my daughter baked cookies, and I kept myself busy giving refills of egg nog. It was a freezing cold night outside, but toasty and warm in our humble home. We were in the middle of Home Alone, one of our holiday favorites, when the power went out. I checked outside, and saw that every house on the block was dark. We lost our power, which meant we also lost our heating. We have a very nice central heating system, but what good is an electric furnace when there is no electricity? Almost instantly the house started cooling off, and I knew it could get dangerous cold before much longer.. Thinking quickly I told my wife and kids to clean all the junk away from the brick fireplace, and I took an ax outside to chop some firewood. Instead of letting the lack of heating ruin our Christmas, I was going to build a roaring fire and make it feel special. You can’t deny there is something very homey and romantic about a brick fireplace. The kids wound up having a great time, and they made smores over the flames of the fireplace. The next morning the power was still out, so I made another fire in the fireplace so we could stay warm while opening presents. I was tired of chopping wood, so all I wanted for Christmas was a working furnace.