Delicious food and good eating is a desire, a quest, an experience, but creating atmosphere and ambiance at meal time sets the example that actions speak louder than words.

When is the last time you ate dinner by candlelight? Do you remember the tone it set? How those flickering lights helped soothe your soul? Why don’t you turn off the overhead lights this evening, and light those candles.

Whether it’s pizza or pasta, salad or sirloin, eating by candlelight is one of our family’s favorite things to do. It enables the hectic pace of the day to fizzle, and allows conversation to flow – gracefully. It also gives the appearance of a beautiful, calm atmosphere – even on those days or weeks when calm was the furthest thing from reality, and you house is struggling to be presentable.


This is what our dinner looks like at almost every evening meal, not necessarily the stir fry and salad, but the glowing candlelight.
It may be mac and cheese served on paper plates, but we still turn off the overhead lights and eat by candle light every time we gather as a family.
It’s become a tradition. My children have no idea that this isn’t “normal” until they have friends over.
My teen son’s friend remarked, “This is so cool. You need to tell my mom to burn her candles. They just sit all over the house and we never use them.”

So what are you waiting for? This is simplicity at its finest. No prep time involved.
Candles are meant to be burned. It may be your early morning coffee on a spray painted $0.25 tray,

or dinner in the dining room,

you will never regret the alluring ambiance that the one small act of lighting a candle during a shared family meal will do to soothe the soul.

Remember, they don’t have to match. You don’t have to spend a lot of money.

The $0.10 dented pillar candle from a yard sale will create the same desired atmosphere.
So let’s make this Tasty Tuesday a “light your candles night,” OK? And if you really want to get fancy with that Mac and Cheese, turn on a little classical music in the background.
If your family thinks you’ve lost your mind, just tell them it’s Jen’s fault. 🙂
Remember actions speak louder than words…light those candles, and converse.