Hung With Care, Finally

Ever since I was a little girl I have wanted a house with a fireplace.  I grew up in Florida.  No one has a fireplace in Florida.  And if they do there's not much of an occasion to use it. 

But I didn't want a fireplace just so I could sit by a cozy fire.  I wanted one so I would have a legitimate place to hang my stocking.  As a kid, we used to hang our stockings on pegs on a shelf my dad had made.  A shelf!  It was a nice shelf and very decorative looking but it was no fireplace. 

Five and 1/2 years ago when we first moved into this house, I finally got my fireplace. And it's everything I dreamed it would be.  It's a cozy fire, a warm ambiance, a focal point, but most of all, it's a place to hang our stockings at Christmas.  * Contented sigh