It’s November 20, a full month and five days before Christmas, but you would never know it by the way we were acting tonight! Christmas music, a beautiful fire, making presents, talking about Christmas trees, and cooking meals. We are so cute sometimes it hurts! I wish I would have thought to bake a pumpkin pie earlier…

Anyway, I don’t think I say enough how much I love my roommate Kara (and her boyfriend extraordinaire, Ryan). They are beyond exceptional human beings. Tonight, Kara, Ryan and I spent part of the night listening to Christmas music (yes, I’m half Jewish. But the other half is something else!) and sitting around the fire. Pictures below.

“Now,” you say, “why do you need a fire?” Well, one, I am a romantic for things like this. There is nothing better than sitting next to a fire, working on homework, work, or your own website (ahem) when it’s cold outside. And second, I am not a fan of using traditional heat. A fire is probably much worse for the environment than our gas heater, but it just seems less natural. So, some nights when I know I’m going to be home and in front of the fire for a while, I light one.

The final reason I have the fire is William. William Willoughby is my wonderful greyhound. Ever since it started hitting the 50s and 40s overnight, William has not been happy. We haven’t turned on our heater yet, so for now it’s been pretty cold in the house at night. When I wake up in the morning, he jumps into bed with me, shivering a little. He’s like, “Dad. Dad. Listen, it’s really cold dad. Uhm, I don’t know if you know this, but I am greyhound, and I get really cold, so dad, can you hold me and warm me up? I’m so cold.” He’s very polite, but his ears are so cold. The poor guy. But I digress.

I could make a point about sacrifice and sustainability and the environment, but I won’t. Because the fact is, we need to encourage stewardship and not fear. (see: Canalscape, Hydrascape) Maybe a fire is one way to do that. Or maybe I just like it. Either way, tonight was another great night at the house.

Snaps to Ryan for getting the fire logs going once the fake log thing died. The fire is now romantically crackling like there’s a midwestern winter blizzard outside. Which there may be, because this fire is keeping my eyes turned away from the windows.

I better get back to working on the site and some homework. But, before I go, I must say…

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!