Off the Cuff / My Other Journal

Yankee Candles

Yesterday afternoon, in the mall, while we were strolling in front of a card shop, my husband pulled my sleeve.
“See, Yankee Candles!”

It took me a while to remember. I think it was in the late seventies when we drove the kids to Boston that we went to visit a candle-making museum. If I’m not mistaken, it was the Yankee Candle Company’s place. I recall an old building, two to three stories high with some reddish color.

I don’t remember much about what we saw, but I remember the story surrounding the trip. We were told that a young boy had melted his crayons to make a gift for his mother; thus the candle- making company had come into existence. I know we were very worried about our children copying his example after they heard how the company had started.

Two to three years before that trip, our older son had already used the oven to melt his toy soldiers and his crayons together to come up with a tasty cookie recipe. The younger one was more daring and I didn’t want him get any fancy ideas, but luckily, he announced: “That’s too much work. Why didn’t he ask his father to buy some?”

Hanging on to this tiny memory we entered the store and walked out with a candle named “Fresh Cut rose” a February special. It will be part of the gift for our younger son’s thirty-third birthday on February 12. I’ll tell him I asked his father to buy it.