Yankee Candles

I'm sitting here inhaling the smell of Christmas. The smell of Christmas that will uplift anyone who enters my house. I am pleased to announce the arrival of two very special items. I'll give you a clue as to what they are - dreamy, seductive, memorable, indulgent, perfect, scene-setting, tempting, oh I could go on........... You should know what I am raving about by now - yes it is 'Yankee Candles'.

Two of my favourites, ones which I feel should be made compulsory at Christmas time as they are so stunning. They are 'Christmas Cookie' and 'Christmas Eve.' I have given myself a little treat; I decided to burn them for a little while to put me in a Christmassy mood. I'm sitting with a cup of hot chocolate and basking in the glorious smell filling my house. I am hoping that by burning these candles over the next few weeks I will become a super organised mum and have my entire Christmas shopping and card list done before December this year.

I decided these candles were a must this year in providing the perfect aroma to a family home. I am trying my best to make this Christmas the closest thing to perfect as I possibly can and these fitted the bill. Last year, I had to be induced two weeks early as I suffered with severe pre-eclampsia and when my bouncing baby boy was born I was too ill to fully enjoy him. It seemed a mammoth task when I was allowed out just two days before Christmas to be able to get out of bed and watch Corey open his presents.

So why do Yankee Candles appeal to me so much? What's not to love? It's a well known fact that smell is the closest sense linked to memory and so I want to fill my children with lots of lovely memories associated with lovely smells. In years to come, I want them to pick up a candle and say "oh, that reminds me of that Christmas when Santa left us a letter and then I quizzed Mum on the fact that Santa must have had a printer." (True story - only it was the tooth fairy)!

Yankee Candles are simply gorgeous; they recreate the smell 100% of what it says on the jar. For example with 'Christmas Cookie' you would be forgiven for checking the cooling tray to see where the freshly baked cookie smell was coming from. They are described my Yankee Candle as a calming candle and I agree as if you close your eyes you can almost imagine you are a little child again with your mother busy baking for you. The smell is sweet and buttery and good enough to eat but for now it will have to be good enough just to smell as I don't believe eating wax is considered beneficial.

The 'Christmas Eve' candle is described as 'a magical sugared plum fragrance' and it most definitely is magical. The smell brings back childhood memories of visiting Santa's grotto and the excitement that that brought. You really have to experience the smell of Yankee Candles to believe how wonderful they are.

My plan for these two candles is to burn them over the next few months, to give the ultimate build-up to Christmas. I think my children will be bouncing with the excitement by Christmas Eve and I hope that these candles will have played quite a big part in creating some fantastic memories for them.

The amazing thing about Yankee Candles is that they are the only candle I have ever found that delivers constant and consistent fragrance. Even the box they arrived in still smells delicious - and it's about a week since they arrived. Apart from the fragrance there's the lovely design of the jars they come in, you could use these purely for the decorative content. The illustrations used on the jars will delight everybody. They remind me of old-fashioned sweet jars and they create a real ambiance in the household. No candle holders are needed, just light up and the delicate flame will flicker within the jar. Perfection!!!

Yankee Candles use top-secret exclusive fragrance oils to create their range and so no other candle ever smells like a Yankee Candle.

There are two more things I love about these Yankee Candles - apart from the amazing smell, they are safer than any other candle because they are contained in a glass jar and I can use the jars for craft projects afterwards as when the candles have been all used up, you can wash the jar and reuse! I'm really happy now - as I have my version of Christmas in a jar.