Back me up here. One of the greatest things about the Christmas season is the oranges, am I right? Those adorable little orbs of delight! Always obliging with their lack of seeds, and a perfect addition, indeed substitute, to richer and more cloying holiday sweets.

But what can you do aside from eating a boxful of them approximately every three days for a month? Why, decorate, of course!

I found a post on how to make a candle out of a mandarin orange! (The author calls them ‘clementines,’ which reminds me of nothing so much as the Sesame Street character after which I was nicknamed as a child, Forgetful Jones. Remember him? He was always trying to sing ‘Oh My Darling Clementine’ but couldn’t remember her name. The nickname, incidentally, came to a head one day when I was getting ready to leave a friend’s birthday party and my mother said “Hey Jones! Don’t forget your jacket!” and everyone turned around in amazement: “I didn’t know your real name was Jones!”) (I digress again.)

I plan to try making this candle at a later date… I have a boxful of perfect mandarins, a sharp knife, and olive oil. What I don’t have is infinity-plus-one matches to get the wick to light. But, I’m headed to Safeway today to buy shortening and jam and maybe I’ll pick up a barbecue lighter. Stay tuned for results!