Variation on a Theme

Part 2 of my potentially never-ending series on why I'm jumping the gun with this whole holiday business continues...


If you could smell through your computer screen, then you'd know why this is the best holiday candle scent ever created.

I read or heard somewhere - probably on Radio Lab in specific or just NPR in general, because that's how I roll - that scent is one of the most powerful senses because of the way our brains tie scents to memory. For example, I have a slightly unnatural aversion to the scent of Bath & Body Works Sweet Pea body lotion, because it was the scent my mom wore when she was taking care of me during my bout with mono during college. I still can't smell it without feeling nauseous.

Generally though, my mom has very good taste in things that smell, whether they be for the body or the house. My mom is sort of infamous for having candles on just about every surface in her house, and that number merely increases around the holidays. Not only does her house look amazing all season long, but it smells amazing too, and to this day her favorite holiday candle scent of all time is Christmas Eve. It's by far mine, too - one whiff of that candle and I'm instantly transported to my mom's living room at Christmas.

While we were at Target this past weekend, I spotted their holiday collection of Yankee Candles and stopped to sniff all of them in turn. As it has been over a year since I smelled it, I was absolutely convinced that their Home for Christmas scent was a dupe for our beloved Christmas Eve. I liked the scent of Home for Christmas, but something didn't seem quite right. It wasn't until I went to the Hallmark by my office today and smelled the actual Christmas Eve candle that I realized I couldn't have been more wrong.

As soon as I took a whiff of the jar, I was no longer in the aisle at Hallmark. I was in my mom's living room, wearing my crazy flannel pajamas and slipper socks, munching on a piece of peanut butter fudge while White Christmas played in the background. The tree was twinkling in the background, and I'm pretty sure there were twin pomegranate martinis (a more recent memory) sitting alongside bowls of Christmas M&M's and Hershey's Kisses on the coffee table.

It's sort of nutty but that one candle, that one simple and delicious combination of scents, holds so many memories for me and they all came flooding back in one swift instant. I must have looked completely crazy, standing there and holding the candle in my arms, all the while sniffing it with a dopey grin on my face. I was so enthralled with the scent and the sense of comfort it gave me that I left with one of those HUGE freaking jar candles for the living room, and three votives for the bathroom.

I must be stopped.

I've lived away from the house I grew up in for almost nine holiday seasons now, and I think every year I miss it just a little bit more. I'm not sure that my mom realizes how special she's always made the holidays for me, just by doing little things like lighting scented candles. I'm thankful for this year though, because I get to go home for both Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I'm finally in a place where I'm looking forward to making some of my own traditions, complete with my very own Christmas Eve candles.

So what if I lit them tonight, two full weeks before Thanksgiving?