Keeping Christmas well – Day 10

I've never roasted chestnuts on an open fire, but I have enjoyed having an open fire in the fireplace of our living room over the last few weeks. It just feels so nice and warm. It looks great and it creates an ambiance that is unmatched with the crackling logs all aglow. Funny thing is that we haven't used the wood burning fireplace since we bought this house...16 years ago. Not one fire. Until a couple of weeks ago. I finally bought a wood grate, the fireplace tools, some self starter logs and we were set. We even had a huge pile of wood out back for an emergency, but now we are burning the wood without an emergency in sight. Our gas buring fireplace in the basement is great and we've used that one for years. It's just such a nice addition to burn some real wood on the fire. I grew up with a fireplace and later a wood burning stove. There's nothing like a nice fire on a cold night to bring some holiday cheer!
We've had some lovely dinner parties with some friends over the weekend, and the burning fire added just the right final touch. It will certainly help us keep Christmas well throughout the month. Hooray! And about those chestnuts, does anyone know how to actually roast them?? I'm curious...