When I was young my mother always burned a bayberry candle on New Year’s eve. The legend I learned was that if you burned the candle down to nub then luck and prosperity would visit you in the next year.
As it turned out Marc’s mother also burned a bayberry candle, so it wasn’t that odd to him that one year when we had to leave our candle burning inside the bathtub when we went to a New Year’s eve party. (In hindsight I ask myself “what the heck were we thinking? What’s the good of luck and money if your house burns down?!) Fortunately, our candle burned down and the house didn’t catch on fire.
That’s some pretty strong luck right there.
Anyway, the kids are older, parties are the things they go out to, not us. Our family went out to an early dinner and then those who stayed home settled down for the night under blankets and with books, videos, and never-ending appetizers.
But even though our celebrations have evolved, I still burned our candle. Some things just don’t change. (And quite frankly, who wants to take the chance of bad luck visiting?)
I started our candle around 4 pm (the sun was setting so *technically* it was evening.)
I placed the candle on top of the stove on a ceramic dish where we could all keep an eye on it (but – true story, as I moved it so that I could get this photo with the tree behind it, the candle fell off the holder and into the garbage can (filled with all kinds of flammable things) lucky for me (very lucky) the flame went out as it fell but holy cow – that was my last heart-attack of 2017)
New Year’s eve was filled with family discussions and plenty of time to reflect. It’s cold up here in New Hampshire and so instead of watching some celebrities ring in the New Year, I celebrated I in my bed under my electric blanket with a good book.
But before I went upstairs, I checked on our candle.
If you didn’t burn a candle, no worries, we’ve got you covered. We burn ours for our family and friends.
Luck and Gold to all in 2018. May this year right some ships and bring us all some much needed peace, luck and prosperity.
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Wendy Thomas writes about the lessons learned while raising children and chickens in New Hampshire. Contact her at [email protected]
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