Birthday Candles

December 19th was the birthday of my marvelous hubsand. (No, that isn't a typo. I wrote it that way on purpose.) I put a lighted birthday candle in his buttermilk pancakes in the morning...and in his macaroni and cheese at dinner...and in his hot fudge brownie sunday for dessert. (He rolled his eyes at me, but he knows that all this is not just an indication that his wife is a pyro, but that she loves him. ; )


Where did the idea of birthday candles come from anyway? (ancient Greeks, according to a quick Internet search) It is fascinating to me how often our celebrations involve things for which we have forgotten the original purpose, but we continue to do them because it is customary. Why do some practices catch on and become tradition, while others fade into oblivion? I may never know the answer to these questions, but I like lighting things on fire, so I'll keep the tradition of birthday candles. (Yes, we do own a fire extinguisher.)