Delia MercerA Rich Woman's Christmas · The Christmas edition
Delia Mercer25 years of homemade candles

Make your house smell like a rich woman's this Christmas, for a few dollars.

The forty-dollar candle is a few cents of wax and an ounce of scent. Pour the copies, fill the house from a pot on the stove, and make every gift on your list in your own kitchen.

Seven volumes · five printable tools

The A Rich Woman's Christmas set: seven volumes, three add-ons, five printable tools and a page open on a phone
worth $97 yours for $19.90
Yes — send me the Christmas edition
Why the Christmas edition starts in November
1–2 wkcandles cure
3 wkpomanders dry
8 wkvanilla steeps

One payment · yours forever · no subscription

12 files in PDF Read on your phone or print it 7‑day guarantee
Who I am
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Twenty-two years without buying an air freshener.

Twenty-five years of candles from an ordinary kitchen, and not one air freshener bought in twenty-two.

I'm Delia Mercer. I'm fifty-seven, I live in a regular house in the suburbs, and I have poured my own candles and made my own soap at my kitchen counter for twenty-five years.

I learned it from my mother and my grandmother, and from years of paying attention in the nicest houses I was ever invited into. They never smelled of a plug-in. They smelled of cedar in the coat closet, beeswax on the dining table, orange peel and cinnamon on the back of the stove. Quiet, layered, and somehow expensive.

None of those women had a secret product. They had habits, handed down, that cost almost nothing. These books write those habits down, room by room and day by day, so your house smells that way this Christmas and every gift you give comes out of your own kitchen.

$19.90 once. No subscription. Yours forever. Access the minute you pay.

The quiet secret

A house that smells expensive doesn't have more candles. It has a plan.

Walk into two houses on the same December evening and you can tell them apart before you take off your coat.

The store-bought house
A plug-in in every outlet.
A spray before the doorbell.
Five scents in one hall.

and a guest with a sore head by dessert

A rich woman's house
Cedar in the closet.
Peel on the stove.
Beeswax on the table.

and nobody can say where it comes from

The secret is one family of scent, strongest at the front door and a little fainter in every room, until the bedrooms smell of nothing but clean sheets. It comes from three layers at once, the air, the fabric and the wood, and from things a guest never sees. That is why it smells like the house and not like a product.

Volume One lays it out room by room, from the wreath on the porch to the pillow in the guest room, with five Christmas signatures to choose from and keep going all season.

Porch & doorFresh greenerythe strongest note
The entryCedar & orangesthe first breath
Living roomWood & one candlemedium
The kitchenThe simmer potorange and spice
Powder roomSoap & a spriglight
Guest roomClean linenfaint
Your bedroomAlmost nothingthe faintest of all
The candle copies

The forty-dollar candle, poured into a one-dollar teacup.

The candle everyone lines up for at the mall is a few cents of wax, a cotton wick and an ounce of scent in a pretty jar. You can buy the same kind of wax, the same kind of wick, and a fragrance oil that smells like the famous one.

Volume Two has twenty of them, each with its scent notes, its amounts, its temperatures and its cure. And ten more candles you can make without pouring at all, from rolled beeswax to a plain pillar dressed for the table.

The Teakwood CopyThe Balsam and Cedar CopyThe Vanilla Bean Christmas Copy The Fig Tree CopyThe Pine and Eucalyptus CopyThe Pomegranate and Plum Copy The Amber and Smoke CopyThe Hotel Lobby Copy

Delia's recipes are homemade copies of the smell. They are not the brands' products or formulas, and Delia Mercer is not affiliated with or endorsed by any brand.

One teacup candle · the copyAmount
A teacup from Goodwill$1–$3
Wax, wick and scent$1–$2
Fragrance, by weightabout 6%
Pour at130–140°F
Cure before burning1–2 weeks
Your copyabout $3
The famous fig candle from Parisover $70

The one-time tools for pouring (a pitcher, a thermometer, a kitchen scale) run about $60–$75 and pay for themselves by the third candle. Simmer pots, sprays and most gifts need none of them.

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The rules nobody prints on the jar

Most of what makes a house smell cheap, or unsafe, is a habit.

Same candles, same stove, same Christmas tree. What changes is a handful of things most of us were never taught.

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Orange, clove and cinnamon on the lowest heat, checked every thirty minutes. Volume Three has thirty pots.
What most houses doWhat Delia doesWhy it matters
A plug-in in every roomOne simmer pot, cedar in the closetsStrong scent running all day is what sends guests home with a sore head. The gentle scent is the expensive one.
A spray just before the guests arriveClean first, air out, then scentPerfume on top of stale air smells like a cover-up. Fresh air is the first layer.
A different candle in every roomOne family of scent through the houseFive scents fighting smell like a store. One story smells like a home.
A candle on the mantel by the garlandTwelve inches from anything that burnsDecember is the peak month for home candle fires. Greenery dries fast indoors, and the tree wants three feet.
A pot simmering all afternoon, forgottenChecked every 30 minutes, or a slow cooker on lowA pot that boils dry scorches and can start a fire. Never leave the house with one on.
Vanilla extract stirred into candle waxCandle-safe fragrance oil, weighedExtracts, food and dried peel in wax smoke and flare. They belong in the pot, not the jar.
A diffuser running beside the catPet-safe scents, out of reach, a room they can leaveMany essential oils are hard on cats, dogs and birds. Most people only hear it from the vet.
No homemade soap, because of the lyeMelt-and-pour, no lye at allYou melt, scent, pour and wait an hour. No goggles, no chemistry, about forty cents a bar.

Eight of the habits in Volumes One to Five. Every one of them works with what is already in your kitchen.

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December 8, the gift assembly line. Twenty jars in one evening.
The twenty-five days

One scent and one fifteen-minute job a day, from December first to Christmas morning.

December doesn't have a spare afternoon in it. The women whose houses smell wonderful all month aren't doing more than you. They do a little every day, in the right order.

Volume Seven is that order. It starts in November with what needs time: candles cure for one to two weeks, pomanders dry for three, vanilla extract wants eight. Then it gives you each day, from the first pot of the season on December first to the tree on the third, the party on the twentieth, Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, with the page in the other volumes that shows you how.

What you get

Seven volumes. The whole season. About 580 pages.

All of it arrives at once, in PDF: 276 entries of recipes, room plans and how-tos. Read it on your phone in the kitchen, or print the pages you use and keep them in a binder by the stove.

The house and the candles

The Rich House Scent Plan

Room by room · 84 pages

Why some houses smell expensive and others smell like a store, where each scent belongs and where it doesn't, the materials of an old house (cedar, beeswax, linen, greenery, real vanilla), and five Christmas signatures, from the Old Money Fir to the Library and Cedar.

Candle Copies

The famous candles for about $2 · 82 pages

Pouring safely in an ordinary kitchen: the wax, the wick, how much fragrance, the temperatures, the cure. Then twenty copies of famous holiday and luxury candles, and ten candles with no pouring at all, from rolled beeswax to the thrift-store teacup.

Simmer Pots and the Christmas Stove

Thirty pots and the oven tricks · 84 pages

How a pot fills a house and how to keep it safe, ten Christmas pots, ten for every occasion (the party, cleaning day, after frying fish), and the oven and kettle smells: dried orange slices, mulled cider without wine, the smell of baking when nothing is baking.

Gentle scent, soap and gifts

Gentle Scents

No plug-ins, no aerosols · 84 pages

Why strong scents send guests home with a sore head, and the gentle way instead: room, linen and pillow sprays you mix in a minute, reed and clay diffusers with no cord, cedar, sachets and pomanders, and towels that smell like a good hotel.

Christmas Soaps and the Bath

Soaps, salts and balms, no lye · 83 pages

Melt-and-pour soap with no lye and no goggles: ten Christmas bars from peppermint swirl to gingerbread. Then hand-milled soap from store bars, bath salts and bombs, sugar scrubs, and balms and butters made with no water, so they keep for months.

Gifts in a Jar

Forty gifts under $5 each · 84 pages

The simmer pot jar, homemade vanilla, the teacup candle, the pomander box, the soap stack, gifts for men, teachers and neighbors, and the one-hour gift for December 23. Each with its shelf life, its wrapping and the words for the card.

The calendar
The one that ties it together

The Twenty-Five Days

November, then every day to Christmas morning · 76 pages

What to start in November so December is easy, then one scent and one fifteen-minute job for each day: the front door, the tree coming home, the linen closet, baking day, the guest room, the party, the longest night, Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, and on the twenty-sixth, saving the best scents for next year.

The other six volumes tell you how. This one tells you when.

And five printable tools

Made for the inside of a cabinet door, not for reading.

Print them on plain paper or card stock. These are the pages you will actually have in your hand in December.

The Scent Shopping List

Everything in the set, by store, with what it costs. Take it to the supermarket, the dollar store and the tree lot.

The Scent Pairing Chart

What goes with what, and your own house on one page, room by room, filled in once and followed all December.

The Recipe Cards

The ten recipes you will make again and again, on card stock. Every gift you give can carry its own card.

The Guest-Day Countdown

Two weeks out to the doorbell, one tick at a time. One copy for every party and every overnight guest.

Gift Tags and Labels

The labels and warnings every handmade gift needs, ready to print on sticker paper and cut out.

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Order the Christmas edition

The whole Christmas season, for less than half of one candle at the mall.

You are paying for the plan and the candles. The other five volumes and the five printable tools come with them.

What you get for $19.90

Volume One · The Rich House Scent Plan

Room by room, and your Christmas signature.

$12
Volume Two · Candle Copies

Twenty famous candles copied, ten with no pouring.

$15
Volume Three · Simmer Pots and the Christmas Stove

Thirty pots and the oven and kettle smells.

$12Included
Volume Four · Gentle Scents

Sprays, diffusers and sachets, no plug-ins.

$9Included
Volume Five · Christmas Soaps and the Bath

Melt-and-pour soaps, salts, scrubs and balms.

$12Included
Volume Six · Gifts in a Jar

Forty gifts under $5, with the words for the card.

$12Included
Volume Seven · The Twenty-Five Days

November, then one job a day to Christmas morning.

$10Included
The Scent Shopping List

By store, with prices.

$3Included
The Scent Pairing Chart

Your house on one page.

$3Included
The Recipe Cards

The ten recipes you will repeat.

$3Included
The Guest-Day Countdown

Two weeks to the doorbell.

$3Included
Gift Tags and Labels

Every label and warning a gift needs.

$3Included
Total value$97
$19.90
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7day
guarantee

Seven days, my word on it.

Read it, put the first pot on the stove, pour your first teacup. If it is not what you hoped, write to support@deliamercer.com within seven days and every dollar comes back. No forms and no hard questions.

Available at checkout

Three short add‑ons, if you want them.

They are offered as a tick box on the payment page at $9.90 each. You don't need any of them to use the set.

Add-on one

The Guest-Ready Home

Everything a visitor notices, in the order they notice it: the porch light, the first breath in the hall, the guest bath they see alone, the guest bed, the Christmas table, and the morning after the party.

$9.90tick box at checkout · 68 pages
Add-on two

The Gift Table

Wrapping like a boutique on a dollar budget, what every label must say, and ready-made words for the tag and the card, for family, neighbors, teachers and someone who is grieving this year.

$9.90tick box at checkout · 71 pages
Add-on three

The Pet-Safe Scented Home

Which oils, candles and Christmas plants are hard on cats, dogs and birds, getting the dog smell out of the sofa before the good smell goes in, the litter-box plan, and every recipe in the set checked for pets.

$9.90tick box at checkout · 73 pages
How it works

From paying to your first simmer pot, about thirty seconds.

You pay $19.90

Once, through a secure checkout. I never see your card number, and there is nothing to cancel afterward.

Everything opens

On the very next screen, in your members area. Phone, tablet or computer, all twelve files at once.

Start with November

Your access also goes to your email. Print the shopping list and the calendar first, and pour the candles that need time to cure.

Questions

Before you order

What am I actually getting?

Twelve files, open the moment you pay: seven volumes in PDF, about 580 pages and 276 entries in all, and five printable tools. Nothing ships. You log in to your members area and everything is there.

Are these the real brand candles?

No. They are homemade copies of the smell, made with wax, a wick and a candle-safe fragrance oil of the kind candle suppliers sell as “inspired by” that scent. They are not the brands' products or formulas, and I am not affiliated with or endorsed by any brand. I just love the smells, and not the prices.

I have never made a candle or a bar of soap.

Most of this set needs no pouring at all: simmer pots, sprays, sachets, pomanders, greenery, the gifts in a jar. When you do pour, the soap is melt-and-pour with no lye, and the candle chapters go one step at a time, with the temperatures and what to do when something goes wrong.

How much will the supplies cost?

The simmer pots, sprays and most gifts run on supermarket things: oranges, cinnamon sticks, cloves, a bundle of cedar from the tree lot. The starter shelf in Volume One is about $20. If you want to pour candles, the one-time tools are about $60–$75. Prices change, and the books say where to buy for less.

Is it safe with children and pets in the house?

Safety is in every chapter: the twelve-inch rule for candles, never leaving a pot on the stove when you go out, no hot oils in anything that touches skin, and what to keep out of reach. Many essential oils and Christmas plants are hard on cats, dogs and birds. Volume Four covers it in brief, and The Pet-Safe Scented Home add-on covers it in full.

Someone in my house gets headaches from strong scents.

Then Volume Four was written for you. It is the gentle way: no plug-ins, no aerosols, a soft scent from fabric, wood and fresh air. It also covers babies, older guests and anyone with asthma or allergies: scent lightly, open a window, and ask your doctor if you are unsure.

Is it too late for this Christmas?

No. Candles want one to two weeks to cure and pomanders three, so November is the easy start, and Volume Seven tells you what to begin first. But a simmer pot works the same afternoon, and there is a whole chapter of gifts for December 23.

Is this the same as the videos?

No. A video is one idea at a time. The books are the whole season in order, with the amounts, the temperatures and the days, so you can work straight from them at the kitchen counter.

Is this a subscription?

No. One payment of $19.90 and it is finished. Nobody will charge your card again.

What if it is not for me?

Write to support@deliamercer.com within seven days and every dollar comes back. I won't ask you why.

A few dollars of peel, cedar and wax. A house that smells like Christmas.

Your guests won't be able to say where it comes from. They will just remember it.

Get the Christmas edition — $19.90

$19.90 once · Instant access, PDF · 7-day guarantee

A Rich Woman's Christmas · $19.90 once
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