After 9 years of talking, we have pulled the trigger and inserted a gas fireplace into our mantle. And after one week the jury is in. We love it. Love it. Theo has become a serial reader for the first time in his life. This past weekend he woke up at 7:30, and without coming into our room for a snuggle we heard him head downstairs, flick on the fire, and settle in for a read. Five hours later we had to beg him to stop so he could eat something. Five hours later! Theo's past record for a reading session is about 30 minutes. He's never been romanced by it like Eli and I, who can spend whole weekends inside a book (or five, in Eli's case- that kid plows through books quickly).
The fireplace has transformed our use of our living room. The room we used to use as just a sort of glorified hallway between the dining room/kitchen and upstairs as become our hangout. It's so comfy that we couldn't bring ourselves to go downstairs to the unheated, unfinished basement to watch movies anymore. So, for the first time in over 18 years, Jon and I have moved our TV up and into our main living space. Yes, we now have a TV in the living room. And we love it. We still use it for mostly movie watching, but despite being the only family in North America without cable, we've fallen in love with a weekly sitcom- Modern Family. We all greatly anticipate Wednesday evening post supper when we flick on the fire, settle in for a bit of a read, and then get the old TV set warmed up in time to watch a half hour of commercial TV.
All in all, I think the biggest bonus of the new fireplace is that my hands and toes won't be freezing all winter. But add to that an avidly reading Theo and some good cheap family entertainment, we are kicking ourselves for not having inserted this wonderful piece of technology earlier in our lives!
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