Scents of the Season

I love that the holiday season starts at Thanksgiving. What better way to start anything than with gratitude? Christmas decorations in October I could do without, along with all the hype. And although I want to put everything Christmas away by New Years, in December, I’m full of holiday spirit.

Maybe it’s because gratitude kicks off the season and infuses it with a certain scent - like basil does for tomato sauce - that captures me so. For almost 30 days I get to bring my inner child out to play. We enjoy the feeling we get when the air is crisp or when a coating of fresh snow covers the landscape undisturbed and pristine, and a forest of bare tree branches, wrapped in ice, is magically transforming into a crystal city when backlit by the sun.  Wow!

I love the smell of fresh cut pine when passing by the Christmas tree lot, or when I walk by the wreaths piled in front of the supermarket and I rub my hands along the branches. It’s then - that memories of Christmases past, for a few moments, are felt once more. I’m a kid again. 

It’s the scent of Christmas, more so than sight or sound or even taste, that has the power to instantly bring me back to a particular time and place.  I connect to a part of me that’s allowed to make a fuss about things that the rest of the year seem provincial - even for a romantic optimist like me. In December, I give myself permission to play.

I go in search of my glue gun, stored in a clear plastic shoebox for eleven months, collect cans of spray paint and begin the process of covering everything I’ve gathered, from dry leaves and berries, to nuts and even pasta in glossy metallic. I relish the hours spent decorating wreathes and small trees, gift boxes and wrapping paper. It’s fun and relaxing - even meditative.

Christmas, like food, is an emotional experience. It’s a return to innocence - a time when simple pleasures never failed to light our face with joy. No guilt. No need to be anywhere else - content to be fully present and completely delighted. So I stir my English breakfast tea with a fragrant cinnamon stick, lick the cookie dough from the large mixing bowl, put a tray of vanilla walnut biscotti in the oven and walk outdoors and load up on seasoned birch logs to feed the fire.

Take a few moments to savor the scents of the season.


Happy holidays,

Chef Silvia