Mandarin Design uses icons to denote blogs that are being read. Meg pulled the candle from above for my link. That tickles me no end. That candle is at LEAST thirty-five years old. I know. I sold it to my Grandma Bea.

Grandpa Chris died in 1957. Grandma Bea lived with us from then until she remarried in 1963. She could always be counted on as a sale for a school fundraiser. Back then, the standard stuff for the schools was almond bark, white almond bark, pecan bark, coconut bark (only purchased by people without kids, for some odd reason) and candles. Grandma liked the sweets, but she also bought candles one year. She would light them for her annual Christmas buffet spread and then put them back in storage.

Florida beckoned earlier and earlier in the years after Grandma married Grandpa Larry. Eventually, they went south before Thanksgiving, and the candles and holiday paraphernalia stayed in a drawer.

A year ago we dismantled the old farmhouse where Grandma and Grandpa had lived. (Grandma had passed in '88, Grandpa in '00.) We found lots of treasures of the heart. And I got to keep the Christmas candles.

Grandma Bea's birthday would have been today, December 16.