Favorite Fall & Christmas Scents

Photo credit: CameliaTWU via VisualHunt.com / CC BY-NC-ND

Here we are nearly at the peak of fall and we are talking about smells.

Obviously, I am all over the smell of freshly baked cookies, and I am particularly fond of the candles sold at Anthropologie, but what smells do I like that are particular to the cooler weather, falling leaves, and shorter days of autumn? … especially with Christmas advent upon us in less than a month! (Can you believe that?!?)

1. Cinnamon

All you have to do is walk into the local grocery store (Kroger, for example) and you are overwhelmed with the scent of cinnamon. Most often at the grocery store, they just want you to buy things that smell like cinnamon, but occasionally you will find yourself next to delicious pastries or hot drinks that actually include the cinnamon flavor. Apple pie with a bit of cinnamon, hot apple cider, muffins with cinnamon sugar… I could go on and on just listing pastries and baked goods! Needless to say, if you are in American grocery store in October (or November), you will smell cinnamon. That's just the way it is.

2. Bonfires

Bonfires are a big deal in the southern states. If you managed to get through spring and summer without attending one, you will probably attend one in the fall. Cooking over a fire on a camping trip or at a party, bonfires are essential to a perfect fall day. If you're lucky, apple-picking, leaf looking, and hay rides are also often included. As for me, I find bonfires relaxing and an awesome way to destress. Plus, the s'mores! (Do people really have bonfires without s'mores?!)

3. New Books & Sharpened Pencils

While it doesn't always feel like school is beginning during the fall season in Georgia, sharpened pencils and the smell of newly opened textbooks is totally an autumn smell. From that point forward, you know that the days are getting shorter, the nights are getting longer, and a lot of studying will occur until spring for all of the students that are back in school. Of course the beginning of school also means favorite television shows come back on! Yay! (Says someone who doesn't actually own a tv…)

4. Fir or Pine Trees 🎄

Up until I married Justin, I never actually had a real Christmas tree. Instead, my mom used the same fake tree her mom used when she was a kid. So, yes decorating the tree and traditions were a big part of our end-of-fall, getting-ready-for-Christmas Christmas rituals, but the smell of fir was less so. Justin, on the other hand, always celebrated with a real tree. So while I was uncertain about the cost of purchasing a real tree (and how that would weigh against purchasing a fake tree and reusing it year after year), eventually the husband won me over in a house not big enough to really store a fake tree. Plus, that smell.

Mmm…

I could be wrong, but I also have been told real trees are more environmentally friendly too?

5. Peppermint

I live in the south where average temperatures linger in the 50s and 60s, so I constantly kid myself when I think about hot peppermint tea, or hot chocolate with a peppermint stick sticking out of it. Yes, it's chilly outside, but 50s and 60s aren't that cold, are they? Enter the Chick=fil-a seasonal peppermint milkshake. More tasty than smelly, but still … Yum!

Candles also work.

6. the smell of snow

Like I said, we don't often get snow where I live, but when we do, it is every kids dream come true! :) Unless you live in specific counties (*ahem* Gwinnett *ahem*), when it snows, kids have the day off … even if the snow is less than an inch thick. We all claim that it's because of the icy roads, but really who wouldn't want a snow day off? Especially when it only happens once or twice a year? I think we deserve our time spent in the snow!

… Does anyone else like the crisp, clean look of newly fallen snow and feel hesitant to go make the first footprint? As in … "No! Don't destroy it! It's pretty!!" ❄️

7. Bacon on Christmas Morning

(or for some, coffee.)

Y'know those commercials from Folgers where they show mom or dad waking up early to a quiet house, sneaking downstairs, smelling their coffee while cradling the warm mug in their hands all before the chaos (read: kids, other family members) of Christmas comes running down the stairs? That's what Christmas morning coffee and bacon remind me of: a peaceful moment on a crazy day.

(Side note: a typical Christmas day for me, in the past, has often meant doing something special for Christmas eve with family, then going to two or more places for Christmas day to spend time with family. It's rarely a peaceful, sit-at-home, relaxing kind of day. And I love it that way! But I also love those peaceful moments so early in the morning, Christmas morning, when everyone is sitting down to breakfast before the chaos of driving everywhere has even begun!)

8. Blood oranges…

Does Christmas time actually fall within blood orange season? I don't know, but I still associate the two.

Blood oranges are my favorite oranges (see here, here, and here), so whether Christmas seasonal or not, I have to buy them as soon as they become available. And then eat them. ALL. The smell of a delicious orange only adds to the package. Freshly squeezed blood orange mimosas with Christmas breakfast ftw! :)

9. Chocolate…

Have you noticed we've gone to foods now? So much for nature making the world smell amazing, now the smells have to come from my kitchen! Except that the addition of this smell was all in thanks to a soap by Bath and Body Works. Why you would want to come out of the bath smelling like hot chocolate, I really don't know? Either way, the dark chocolate smell that the product smells like is definitely associated with Christmas. And, perhaps after last year's visit, Paris as well. I have never had better tasting hot chocolate than what we found at Angelina's tea room. That hot chocolate will be sorely missed this year when the Christmas season comes around again.

Yearly visit to Paris needed?

I think so. :)

10. Nutmeg

For this last one, I blame Justin.

With my mom's distaste for most dairy products, I never tried eggnog until I met Justin. Although, by itself, I found it kind of plain and a bit like milk tasting, the moment he added freshly ground nutmeg on top and told me that "nutmeg always reminds me of Christmas", my love for eggnog and "the smell of Christmas" began. Now, along with my morning Christmas mimosa and yearly trip to Paris (😉), the Christmas holidays are not complete until I've had at least one cup of delicious eggnog topped with nutmeg. And that's just the way it is. 😀

What smells remind you of fall and Christmas? Do you have any in particular you look forward to smelling every year?