1998 december 04

it's beginning to smell a lot like christmas

the idiot officemate from hell left a candle burning all night.

normally i would rant and rave about the stupidity of this particular maneuver, how i might have lost the ratbert beanie toy atop my monitor, not to mention the light up world globe, if the whole building were to catch fire but it just smelled so damn good when i walked in this morning that all is forgiven. warm apple crisp [or so the sticker on the candle says] wafting into my cold nose on a friday morning just about makes the day tolerable.

i love the smells of christmas. most of my prejudices against artificial christmas trees stem from them not smelling like a pine forest. i will pull needles off my tree every morning during the holiday season, then crush and roll them back and forth between my palms so that i can get a sniff of christmas all through the day. [yes, i expect many people find it strange that i go about sniffing my palms. no, i don't give a damn.] i simmer orange peels and cinnamon sticks and cloves on the stovetop on weekends. i burn bayberry candles, although i have never smelled an actual bayberry and don't really know if they smell like the candles or if it is one of those fake smells marketed for the season.

this morning i gave myself the luxury of parking underneath the building. there is something about the smell of covered concrete parking structures that appeals to me as well. it smells like europe although i cannot explain just exactly how or why. it is a cold smell, a faintly gasoline smell but most definitely a europe smell and it had me missing germany all over again. europe just plain smells different than the united states.

i miss the smells of european christmas as well. the spiciness of lebkuchen, the richer chocolate smell, cardamom, sauerkraut, snow. some of these i could replicate here but it just wouldn't be the same. so, rather than cheapening the memory by trying to build a facsimile, i just miss them and glory in the years when i go back and can breathe them in person.

i miss the smells of an australian christmas too. the suntan oil, the barbie, the frangipani. a sort of coconut/pine melange. having christmas in the middle of summer threw me for rather a loop the first year, but there is a lot to be said for being able to rip open presents, sing christmas carols and then head for the beach to escape the crush of people who always showed up for dinner.

gene and i are going out to chop down our first christmas tree this weekend; the house is going to smell heavenly. maybe i will start baking as well, nothing like gingerbread and pine to set the season properly in motion.

thinking perhaps there is something to that whole aromatherapy thing, claire