Big, fluffy snowflakes drifting down early today created a bit of panic as the birds came from their roosting places to seek out some breakfast. They were especially surprised to find solid ice on the water dish. It’s time to hook up the winter heating unit!

I had planned a quiet day Thanksgiving, still trying to get over the most recent health disaster. But Laurie surprised me and drove down from Vermont, to spend the long weekend and undertake a variety of chores. It was nice to have someone here. She figuratively held a club over my head and made me drink liquids and soups and anything else she could talk me into!

Megan came for overnight and there were some fierce games of cribbage going on most of the time, while I dozed and remembered when Laurie first learned the game from our late friend, Fran Fisher. Megan, who is Wendy’s 12-year-old, is so good at all the games we play, she usually emerges as the big winner.

Preparations are underway in all areas for the holiday season. As with other activities, it makes us recall past times when the family was busy with making decorations, tree ornaments, homemade and homegrown gifts. I will never forget the year I discovered our lot across the road in Stevenson was full of big bushes full of bayberries. Here was the perfect country gift project in which the children could participate, and which would provide us with gifts of bayberry candles.

The late autumn day when that idea was “hatched” we invaded the shed and the barn and rounded up a number of buckets and pails and containers in which we could gather the bayberries. The trick is to get them early before fall storms deplete the wax in the little gray berries.

A couple of lessons in how to strip the berries into the pails took only a while, and off we went – excited, enthusiastic and ready to make candles for everyone on the Christmas list. We had been warned it would take a lot of berries, so our excursions for collecting them lasted into November. The collected booty was stored in boxes in the shed near the back-kitchen door.

Finally, when we had what seemed like billions of berries, it was time to start boiling them in water on our woodstove. The plan was to boil them when we were all home and everyone could help – stirring, skimming the wax that floated to the top; changing the water and adding new berries. We very carefully stored the wax in a large stainless steel bowl, adding a spoonful at a time as we stirred and skimmed.

Several distinct memories are still fresh in mind as I remember that project. Our house never smelled so wonderful. Well, maybe when we “cooked down” the homemade mincemeat, it was almost as fragrant. The lovely scent permeated every room in that old farmhouse. It was better than wonderful.

But – of course there had to be a but – as the third weekend of boiling came to an end, the wax in the steel bowl had increased, but only by small amounts. Our disappointment began to dampen our spirits and our great plans for candle making came to a jarring halt… until I saw an ad in a gift magazine for “floating candles.” Aha! This was the only answer. We learned to put tiny wicks in cupcake tins, and to pour, carefully, the wax we melted down; and somehow we managed to give tiny floating candles to the chosen few on our lists, who would enjoy them. The fragrance in our house lingered long after the disappointment was still with us.

James M. Barrie provided last week’s quote, in a 1922 speech.

Who said “Candy is Dandy, but liquor is quicker.”?