One of my favorite things about the holiday season is the smells! From cookies in the oven to the rich pine scent of a real Christmas tree, I love how powerful and memorable the sense of smell can be. In the past Mike and I haven't ever really "decorated" for Christmas aside from putting up a tree. We never went all out with garlands or outdoor lights. Now that we're settled somewhere for the next little while, I've really been itching to really deck the halls. I picked up some outdoor pre-lit garland and some wreaths the other day, and even snagged some lights to lay over our bushes, etc. Of course we haven't gotten around to putting them all up yet, but even just the thought of it has me feeling festive.
Our Christmas tree went up incredibly early (on Halloween!), but I've held off on everything else because I didn't want to get too carried away before Thanksgiving. Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone, I'm ready to throw myself into it all. This year will be the first year we spend Christmas Eve at home as a family. Every year since I was born (minus one), I've spent Christmas Eve at my mom's house. Once Mike and I moved in together that was just what we did. This year Toby has requested that we sleep at our own house so Santa can come visit us here. I'm a little heartbroken and excited at the same time. We'll be making new memories and establishing new traditions. I really really love traditions.
Since I only just recently ordered our stockings, things aren't feeling super festive inside our home. The tree is lit and I listen to "Punk Goes Christmas" far too much, but still, something was missing. Holiday scents! From New Year to Thanksgiving, our house smells like honeysuckle. It's my favorite scent and I love how it keeps our house feeling fresh and Spring-like. But between Thanksgiving and New Years Eve, I bust out all of my holiday candles and wax melts, and I constantly wish we had a fireplace. This year I'm melting/burning scents from Air Wick (Spiced Apple Crumble - OMG, and Emerald Woodland - They come in both candles and wax melts.)
I'm a huge fan of wax melts, and if you follow me on Instagram you've probably seen countless photos of my wax warmers in the background of photos. I have one in our room, the bathroom, the kitchen and the living room. If I really want this place to smell good, it takes all of about 10 minutes with all 4 going! I've really loved the Air Wick melts so far because they're "layered" with different scents so you never really go nose blind to them (the candles are multi-layer too!). Just when you get familiar to the smell of the room, you're hit with a new note that is complimentary, but fresh.
Decorating with a Linden around is a little difficult at times. I can't have an open flame or melted wax anywhere he can reach it, so I'm pretty much left to just decorating on the counters or the window shelves we built between the living room and kitchen. However sometimes I also just prefer to pop the wax melts in the warmer and "hide" it on a shelf so there's no distracting light - just an awesome holiday atmosphere. There's something about walking into a space and being greeted with such a warm, inviting smell. I truly think the scent of your environment can greatly impact your mood and experience.
What are your favorite seasonal scents?
If you're interested in snagging 2 of each Air Wick Life Scent candles shown above, pop over to my Instagram (@kaelahbee) and tag a friend! I'll be announcing a winner this weekend! You can have your home smelling delicious before Christmas rolls around, too!
xo KB
This post is in partnership with Air Wick. All opinions and words are my own, as usual.
your home is so adorably decorated! And omg I forgot about Punk goes Christmas! one of my faves. will definitely be listening tonight!
ReplyDeleteI actually rounded up my favorite winter scents here if you want to check them out!
XO Sahra
Que Sera Sahra
My mom actually worked at Yankee Candle for a number of years when I was growing up, and at one point I'm fairly certain we could have opened a store from our hall closet. So it's no wonder that I am a candle obsessed adult, especially as the weather get's cool and all you wanna do is snuggle inside. But at $15-20 a pop? It's an expensive habit to keep up with. So recently I started reusing all of my spent candle jars (many were just too pretty to throw away) to make my own soy wax candles! The wax is super inexpensive on Amazon and you can mix any essential oils you want to get various scents. They make great gifts, too :)
ReplyDeleteJulia at List Maker, Picture Taker