The 'C' word is of course preceded by the 'A' word!

I wonder does anybody else have the difficulty I have each year in finding pink and purple candles for our Advent wreath at home?

We've always had an Advent wreath in our home and I always remember one at home as a child - from the bent-coathanger contraption that dripped wax over us as we stood looking up at it and in which - despite her best efforts, my mother could never quite get the candles to stay upright - to the enviable de-luxe versions in shop windows!

When I first began making our own version, there were candles of every possible hue around at all times of year but I've noticed recently that from October onwards it's red, green, gold or silver, and that's your lot. If you look hard enough you may be lucky enough to come across a purple candle, but pink - no way! What's wrong with pink? You can find just about everything else (apart from candles) in pink - from Cadillacs to cummerbunds but nothing vaguely resembling a candle.

As it's not Advent until next Sunday I don't have a picture of this year's wreath but here's one of last year's - sorry about the red candles!!!