We had a rather eventful Thanksgiving this year.
About a half hour before our dinner guests arrived, I thought it would be nice to light some candles in the living room. I was still cooking in the kitchen at the time and the children, ages 8 and 12, were upstairs playing. At 6 p.m. our guests arrived. Just before I was to serve dinner, my son noticed the tablecloth in the living room was on fire. My brother-in-law was able to get the fire out—but not before it had burned nearly all of the tablecloth and part of the surrounding carpeting. We were very fortunate.
It seems that the metallic-coated tapers that I lit were the problem (my sister has seen this problem in the past as well). Part of the metallic side of one of the tapers caught on fire and slid off of the candle, igniting the tablecloth.
The point to all of this is: candles are lovely to look at and add ambience to a room but they need to be attended.
Kim Johnson, Woodridge
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