Christmas just doesn’t smell like it used to. My nose doesn’t work as good as it once did due to having used it as a bumper on several occasions but if I sniff really hard—Christmas just doesn’t smell like it used to. My Mother used to make gingerbread men at Christmas. We’d help decorate them at the kitchen table. That gingerbread scent sticks in my mental nose, now that’s a holiday smell! Slice and bake chocolate chip cookies just don’t have the same aroma. I’ve tried snorting molasses and nutmeg that I’d put in a pan in the oven but it just didn’t work. Mom would make a bunch of round gingerbread cookies too and frost them with green frosting. It was a really odd shade of green but it smelled and tasted great. Mothers are good people.
We usually had ham for Christmas dinner, frequently ham that I had slopped for a year before and had helped haul to Schmidt’s Butcher Shop to have smoked. Christmas afternoon was a baked ham smell, mingled with hot pie aroma. Relatives would arrive, each bringing a new smell with them, some good—some not so good. The kids went out to play in the snow while the adults got into the Morgan David. Time to eat meant the kids coming in, bringing the smell of wet wool and damp snow pacs to mingle with the grape scent of the wine. The food was brought out and the aroma level rose to a crescendo of sniffability.
We still have family on Christmas, the warmth and laughter is there. There are good things to eat, everyone brings dishes to share. We still gather around the tree and look at presents. The family musicians gather around the piano and fill the air with the sounds of the season. There’s cocoa and cookies, all the sights and sounds are there and I appreciate each and every one. The smells are good but not as distinctive as they once were. It would be wonderful to once more sniff Christmas through a younger nose.
I’d like to wish each and every one of you a merry Christmas and best wishes for a happy, healthy New Year. I hope you make many warm new memories to add to your collection. If you spend the season alone, may the memories of Christmases past make you smile.
Thought for the week—“Remember the real reason for this holy season, it’ll make you feel even better”.
Until next week, may you and yours be happy and well.
Whittle12124@yahoo.com
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