December QOTD - Question 5

Hey, check it out, I'm behind again! Clearly, I am pretty much crap at keeping up with this daily thing. I blame work, because it's convenient to do so. :)

Question 5:
What is your favorite Christmas (Winter/Holiday) scent?

Well, in my last entry, I mentioned the candied pecans, but you know, that's not only a holiday thing, that's just how it turned out in my family. Still, it ranks right up there, I do have to admit.

I think the best thing, though...

We had real trees every year that I can remember growing up. Once my brother was old enough to get what the whole tree-buying thing was about, we usually went to get one on his birthday. We never did go to one of those cut-your-own places, though I've always wondered what that'd be like. It always took an hour or so to find a good tree, because we were all really picky about it, but at least we had similar ideas of what would look good.

Even just the looking was fun for me, because I was surrounded by that fresh-cut pine scent. A little sweet, a little sharp, the promise of crisp, snowy winter nights curled up on the couch snuggled in a blanket to watch the lights on the tree. Just walking through the rows of trees leaves you surrounded by it.

When we got home, Dad always cut off the bottom of the stump, which I found out later you're really supposed to do, but I always loved to grab that piece of trunk that he'd cut away, just so I could smell it.

Those last few days at school before getting out for the holiday were always great, too. I was a latchkey kid, so coming home to a quiet house, opening the door to that rush of scent.

A few years ago, we bought a warmer for incense oil, and one of the scents I insisted on was the 'Holiday Pine' scent. I used it over the weekend, just for a little while, and for a moment, I was that 12 year old kid, freshly home from school, doing homework in the living room where I could get distracted by watching--and smelling!--the tree.