Any kid who's ever been entranced by an advent wreath knows that a tapered advent candle shrinks faster on Sunday night when it's new and slender than on Saturday night when it's old, stubby and caked with melted wax.  How much faster?  As an apropos application of math during this Christmas season, we derive a formula for the height of a burning tapered candle as a function of time.  Assuming the candle has the shape of a cone when it is new and that it loses volume at a constant rate as it burns, we show that the height of the candle shrinks roughly in proportion to the cube root of time.