Fireplace - Firebird

Warming your hands in front of the wood stove after coming in from the cold. Burning wood and fire-warmed brick blackened with soot. Wet woolen gloves laid out on the hearth to dry. Clove-studded orange pomanders tied with a dusty velvet ribbon, carefully removed from the shelf in the glass-front cabinet (next to the samovar and the matryoshkas and the little box of incense) and placed on the mantel: a Christmas offering.