The danger of unattended candles

It is a staple of Hollywood movies throughout the ages. A dinner table bathed in the glow of candlelight, a couple sharing a romantic dinner, talking of their future life together long into the evening as the candles burn low…

But not at my house. Delaney is convinced that an unattended candle will result in a raging inferno that engulfs the house in a matter of seconds. If you turn your head for just a moment, Delaney will blow a candle out.

Dana will light a candle in the kitchen area every now and then because it smells good and makes the kitchen smell good after grilling liver and onions or something like that. We will come and go from the kitchen as we do things around the house, laundry downstairs, sit in the living room, watch TV, but the candle still burns low and the house smells great. However, during Christmas vacation when the kids were home, Dana would come back in to the kitchen and find that her candle had gone out. She would dig the wick out of the wax and shape it or “hug it” like she has read in Martha Stewart or some such place that only females know about, but sure enough when she left the kitchen, the candle would go out again. At one point, Dana was sitting in the living room reading and she saw Delaney coming out of the kitchen. She asked Delaney, “Is my candle still burning?”

To which Delaney replied, “No, I just blew it out for you”

This fear of the open flame goes throughout with Delaney. We have a gas fireplace insert in our basement that is controlled by a thermostat. During the winter when it is cold in the basement, when use the fireplace to help heat the area. If we are hanging out in the basement with her watching TV, playing a game, or whatever else, all is fine. But if we live the basement and she wants to stay and watch TV she will get a blanket to stay warm and turn off the fire because you never know with an open flame.

Delaney likes to have candles at dinner because she thinks they are fancy. We have done this on a few Friday nights for fun, and she always gets a kick out of it. Of course we have to blow the candles out after we eat dinner and we are clearing the table before we eat dessert, just to be safe, and then re-light the candles for dessert. Not quite the Hollywood image from the movies, but for now, it works.