A January Waxing

After Christmas, we had some time. December was busy with my real job, waiting until the last minute to buy Christmas gifts (because I've always been a master procrastinator), and filling orders for Christmas baskets filled with jellies, salsa, and bread... so much bread. Then towards the end of our Christmas break, my dad called me and reminded me that we still had beeswax from the summer. Neither of us have ever had any actual experience with beeswax, other then maybe telling other people to mind their own on the playground in elementary school, so I was a tad nervous about the whole thing. However, he had done the research and I was game, so armed with a hotplate, a well-sterilized pot from Goodwill, and a brand new stocking (otherwise known as pantyhose), we began our endeavor.

Filtering honey seems easy enough. You take the wax you cut from harvesting the honey, put it all in a pot, heating it up just enough so that it melts. You can use a candy thermometer if you want to (maybe we should have because you don't want it to reach higher than 170 degrees), but really just watching and stirring is enough. As the wax heats, you start to see all of the impurities in it. It gets really dark, a little chunky, and brown. Then you take your stocking and cut the foot out of it, and if you are new to this whole filtering wax thing, you pour it directly into the stocking, burning your dad's hand in the process so he nearly drops the whole the thing. Somehow, even with his hand on fire, he managed to hold on so the whole process wasn't ruined. The most satisfying part is when the wax drips from the stocking, it changes color and the color of butter.

Watching the clean wax drip from the stocking was a bit mesmerizing, and as I watched, I had an epiphany.

The new year was starting. The time for new beginnings, when each of us pledge to filter out our own impurities. I'm definitely not one for New Year's resolutions, but I love the thought of new beginnings and new goals. The wax was still wax after it was filtered, just a better version of itself. And that's what the new year should be about. We don't have to change into something different, but I think we can always reflect about how we could be a better version of ourselves. I need to be more present and more organized and use fewer curse words and maybe be a little more positive. Well not all impurities are getting filtered out this year, so I chose one thing to really focus on... Being present. Less Facebook, Instagram, Netflix, and more time with my family. I would say I'm never going to be as perfect as that buttery wax after it was strained and purified, but I can be just a little better than the day before.

We can become better wax strainers too. After letting that beautiful wax drip into a clean plastic bin, we let harden and it formed into a giant block. In case you are wondering, trying to remelt wax into lotion bars or lip balm when it's in a giant block is a giant pain in the... butt (see I can be better).

Making smaller wax pellets or even smaller shapes would have been better, but that's what this whole thing is all about, making mistakes and learning from them. And I'm okay with that, as long as I don't burn my dad's hands off in the process.

One of the lotion bars we made with our beautifully filtered beeswax! It is full of amazingness: coconut oil, beeswax, shea butter and some essential oils. Isn't she beautiful!