Lesson learned

Did you know that candles melt? Of course you did. Everybody knows that. In theory. But did you know realize that they melt simply when they get hot, not necessarily when the wick is burned? Never thought about it, did ya? Yeah, me neither.

Last year, I had Christmasy-smelling candles on my wish list, and I was pleased (or so I am told) that I received two as gifts!

After Christmas, we packed up all of our decorations for the year, including the scrumptious candles to be burned the following holiday season. In the meantime, we bought a house and moved. Naturally, our seasonal decor was promptly placed and stored in our new attic. We're just that responsible.

Turns out it gets pretty hot in the attic. And, as we've already discussed, even in the absence of a flame, mere heat will melt a candle to liquid wax. Upon retrieving our Christmas supplies from the inferno beneath our roof, at first the overwhelming Christmas Tree smell quickened my excitement and spurred me on to dive even more wholeheartedly into the Christmas season! (If that's even possible.) However, after further digging unpacking, I was absolutely devastated to find that my beloved and much anticipated scented candles had been ruined before they ever had an opportunity to grace a warm room with Christmas ambiance!

Items that were stored alongside the candles were also destroyed. I performed a small eulogy as I ceremoniously dumped now wonderfully smelling garland and ribbon and decorative sparkly berries that were all saturated with green gooey gunk into the undeserving trash, along with other candles (that were not so much candles, per se, but more like pretty decorative figurines made of wax) that became grotesquely distorted in the heat.

Thankfully, one of the candles had a pretty tightly sealed lid and was able to maintain most of the wax within the closed jar. I'm so pleased to inform you that it fits perfectly on a candle warmer, and the wax has since melted nicely back toward the bottom. As we speak, there is only the faintest of an "iceberg" from the lid fillings that remains above the smooth surface, and the sweet aroma of a Christmas tree fills the air throughout our house. Ahhhh....

Brad and I have discussed scraping out the wax from the other candle (and what we can salvage from the rubber container in which it was stored) and using it to create our own Christmas candle. He seems to think that a wick is easily created using a simple piece of string. We'll see.

Regardless, I believe I can genuinely say that we have learned a valuable lesson when it comes to storing Christmas decorations: Don't keep wax anything in the attic! It will get hot up there, and the wax will melt! And you will be very, very sad. Lesson Learned.