First Fire on the Last Day of the Year

December 31, 2025

Liz and I had a few different approaches for our /New Year’s Even prep. I spent part of the day working on a stew. She got things ready, for us to do an impromptu Society tasting.

It may be hard to see, but these are all Macallans (each one distilled on the same day [October 13, 2008], all in an initial Oloroso Butt, and subsequently in a 1st Fill Ex-Oloroso Hogshead). We have two 12 years, two 13 years, and a 15 year.

In addition to her whisky prep, Liz also got us some chairs and a footstool, for us to relax by our fireplace.

A side note: Liz and I are entering into this really interesting phase with the house. For the longest time, things were a construction zone – exposed studs, drywall here and there, plywood floors.

We’re now in a place where the rooms are mostly done, but we have some trim and minor bits of electrical remaining. So they’re not fully under construction, but not yet fully in their final form.

In the coming year, it’ll be interesting to see how we navigate this – and start to use/live in some of these rooms, as opposed to simply working on them.

A view of our view, with wood prepped in the fireplace. And a nice looking end table, if I do say so myself.

Our first fire! It’s New Year’s Eve, and better late than never. Glad we got this in, in 2025.

I do have to say – this has been a long, long time coming. With the cost of fixing and updating a fireplace, we’ve held off on this for years because our money was better spent elsewhere – on more critical, infrastructure type work for the house.

To have this done and working is… difficult to describe. It’s a nice, warm feeling, both literally and emotionally.