WHEN FAMILIES GATHER around the fire this holiday season, the odds are better than ever that no real kindling will be involved.
Due to concerns about health and air quality, regulations against wood-burning fireplaces and stoves have grown increasingly strict—San Francisco, for example, forbids them in new construction—and homeowners drawn to flames have moved on to alternatives such as gas and electric.
This doesn’t mean such new-technology adopters are willing to give up the ghost of Christmases past, however.
“For generations, fire has been the center of the home,” said Julie Buckner, an interior designer in Petaluma, Calif., who often installs electric fireplaces instead of gas or wood.
“It’s a light show,” she said, “but once we commit to not burn wood, it becomes easier to accept that it doesn’t look completely natural.”