Unlit Candles are a Sacrilege

I am a candle lover, and enjoy having candles lit wherever I am, so when Alan and I stayed at my mother-in-law's house this Christmas, we (ok, I) found her candle stash.

Her tealights were the extremely cheap variety (no offence intended at all, most people buy these - I used to). I put them out in some tealight cups. They didn't look beautiful and I didn't replace them the next night.

She had two pillar candles. One was metallic blue and complemented the plate it was sitting on. Shells surrounded it and it looked quite pretty. Until I lit it. I wish I'd taken a picture. The wax never melted more than a 20 cent piece away from the wick. So into the pit the flame went. Alan wouldn't let me throw it away. I still wish I had.

The other pillar candle was sitting in another nice display, It was dusty, still had the plastic wrap around it, and I'm pretty sure it was leaning slightly to one side. I removed the plastic (I can't tell you how many people I've seen leave that plastic on - dangerous), trimmed the wick (so important), and lit the candle. It was beautiful. It burnt nicely, smelled great, and the wax melted to the edges of the candle. Each night I would give the candle a hug and toddle off to bed.

If you've got candles... light them. Enjoy them. Give them life and then replace them. They were meant to be lit. If they suck... throw them away. It's that simple.