Mother's Little Helper

I've got a lot going on. I have various appointments, candle making, selling, sending out mailings and... oh yeah, Christmas shopping. There is much to do and just not enough hours in the day.

Fortunately for me, my son jumped in and offered to help with tonight's candle making. He saw me making batch after batch of candles today, both after school and before bed. So when he said, "Mom, I can help you," I thought it was a great chance to get him involved, give him a good feeling of importance, and get a little help.

First, he cut the wicks. They are very long and need to be trimmed down to about 1/4".

After he was done (boy, was he quick), he asked what else he could do to help. I was about to start melting and topping off the candles with sugar in the raw. I told him he could follow my heat gun (read = (hair) blow dryer) with a bunch of sugar and sprinkle it onto each candle. I was a bit nervous at first but guess what? He did better than I ever have. Best sugar tops yet!

Sweetening the deal with sugar in the raw.

I was so impressed with both his desire and ability to pitch in. The past few weeks he's been helping me by bringing me wick clips and things, but having him help on the creative end is a real treat. Plus, he cut my finishing time down by about 40 minutes.

My son has me in complete awe. He's maturing more quickly than I could ever imagine.

Johnny, along with the girls, will be helping me do something very special for my local vendors. I cannot say what because, on the off chance that one of them is reading my blog, I don't want to spoil the surprise.

Johnny, thanks for being such an amazing son.