The candles fit in with my Christmas Decor...not exactly teal...but bluish enough to fit somewhere on that colour wheel.
The scent is Mainstay's Winter Mittens.
Although the name sounds akin to damp wool...it has a fresh almost peppermint scent mingled with cotton or maybe dryer sheets.
This year it is my Christmas Scent.
Mayes discusses the scents of her childhood home. The Magnolias, Gardenias, and Jasmine. The smell of the nearby pine woods. Of breakfast cooking on the stove.
An oddity. Scents transport me. They say it is the English (in a bloodline) that connects scents strongly to memory. It may be true. Both myself (1/2 English) and my youngest son (3/4 English) tend to be very "scent" oriented. Additionally...we can both look at a picture and "smell" the scent attached to the particular memory.
The smell of sawdust and wood shavings can bring me right back to my Grandfather's garage and I can see him there...shaping a wooden bookshelf just for me.
The smell of Borkum Riff or Apple Pipe Tobacco and we are on the banks of our favorite farm pond,on a fishing trip, trying to catch "Big John" the ever elusive largemouth bass...or "Little Cedric" his the-size-of-your-hand Bluegill buddy.
My little brother (now deceased) always smelled pinkly of a wad of Bazooka Joe...as we would sit together on the Eel River Bridge and read the enclosed comics.
My childhood home filled with the smells of cooking. Something roasting on Sunday...or Dad's charcoal grill with huge hamburgers mixed with chunks of onion.
Sundays when my children were growing up and the scent of biscuits baking and homemade Sausage Gravy...always with a bit of fresh sage mixed in.
The fill-the-house scent of White French Lilacs when I was a child from the bush in our backyard...and light purple ones when my children were growing. I no longer have a lilac bush...so in May you will always see a candle of that scent...filling the rooms just the same.
The smell of wood-smoke and I am back beside one of the roaring camp-fires Bill and I built, through our 18 years of marriage. Maybe in The Everglades. Maybe on the Arizona Hardpack. Maybe on top of a mountain in Ely, Nevada. Maybe just at the Turkey Run camp grounds with the boys careening/laughing down the side of the ravine nearby. The camping out scents of Marshmallows and Hotdogs roasted over an open fire. The scent of wood-smoke in his hair and beard lingering into the night. Campfire kisses.
A particular Scent (candle or body wash or shampoo) for many of our "getaways" during the years. The most memorable being Old Rose when we celebrated our 7th Anniversary at The Cornerstone Inn.
And different home scents for different seasons...or even monthly.
Flowers and Food Scents, Clean Linen and Blueberries, Nut Breads and Autumn Leaves, Chocolate or Winter Lodge with an undertone of Pipe Tobacco.
When my grandchildren walk in my door their first comment is always
"It smells so good in here!"
And I know when I am long gone- they will always remember...the scents of Grandma's House.
The scent of HOME.
