My being sick consisted of spending most of the week with a continual hook-up of tea, while unsuccessfully fending off children. No happy, collaborative project-making in this house.

Things derailed a bit, for once I didn't have too many creative balls in the air, but it did put me in a introspective mood, in between watching pirated episodes of AbFab on YouTube. The holiday part dominates our approach into the darkness and cold of winter. I've had some reminders of the pleasures of the season by other bloggers, of warmth, light and home.

On this longest night of the year, here are some bare-bone instructions on how to make beeswax candles. Forget paraffin wax, for the aroma, nothing beats beeswax. Mellifluous. Now there's a nice word.

Needs:

Beeswax
Tomato sauce or other large 28 oz can
Skillet
Wooden chopstick
Prewicked wick tab
Juice concentrate tube or other mold - milk carton, tiny chinese take-out container

Beeswax pastilles still take quite a while to melt, but they are pretty and look all the world like channa dal. I ordered mine from Swans Candles.

Clean and take the label off your can. Pinch in one side to make spout. Bring a skillet full of water to a rolling boil, fill your can with the wax and set it in the water - crude double boiler. Stir occasionally with a chopstick. It takes a good 15-20 minutes for the wax to melt completely.

Hang the wick in the mold by wrapping it around a chopstick, so that the tab touches the bottom of the mold. Carefully pour the melted wax into the mold of choice.

Let the candle set for at least four hours. Unmold by peeling the cardboard. Beatrice thought it looked "like a bomb" at this stage.

Trim your wick for that non-bomb look.