My family always asks you what you want for Christmas so they don’t need to put a lot of thought into shopping.
I’m glad they ask because this year I wanted money.
I wanted to be able to put the money either into something fun or into something for the house. I was thrilled when my family took me serious and I received only monetary gifts this year. I came home from a family holiday, with almost $500 in my pocket. I was thinking about whether I wanted to go on a skiing trip or if I wanted to buy something cool for the in the house. Cool was the operative word when I got home, because it was definitely cool when I got home that weekend. I was sure I had left the furnace running, because I never touched the thermostat. The thermostat was one of those programmable ones and I had never changed the programming. I looked at the temperature and it was below fifty so I knew I had a problem with the furnace. I looked at the envelope full of money and I nearly groaned. I knew that this money was going to end up going out for either furnace repairs or a new furnace system. I called the HVAC company and they were to the house in a couple of hours. I almost cried when they told me that the furnace needed to be replaced. I knew I was not only going to need to spend my Christmas money, but I would have to figure out how to come up with more money for the remainder of the cost for a new furnace.