I can't believe I'm just now catching up from Christmas.
On December 23rd, we sent Zoe down with her aunt and uncle to visit her grandparents a day ahead of us. Then, on Christmas Eve morning, we woke up to a dead furnace and a cold house. There was much delay, but we finally got someone out to fix it. The igniter was replaced, the house started to warm up, and we could safely leave the cats to the pet sitter.
Christmas Day was pleasant chaos.
The day after, still at Zoe's grandparents, we woke up to a dead furnace and a cold house. Again. After a few hours, they got someone to come take a look. They needed to replace the igniter.
It was decided that we carried a furnace virus, and were gently discouraged from visiting anyone else's house. Ha.