Jingle Smells

So my second-grade daughter comes walking in the house yesterday singing, “Jingle Bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg.” ??? I have a few issues with this. First of all, whoever coined this parody had to have done it over 50 years ago, and so much for the phrase “quality lasts.” Secondly, my daughter doesn’t know who Batman and Robin are. But thirdly, and most importantly, it got me thinking about the smells of Christmas Times. I love the smell of a Christmas tree. I just close my eyes and it brings me right back to days of being an anticipating child. This year we had our tree up for 5 days without time to place a single ornament, but it just didn’t matter, the whole family room smells like a Douglas fir. The next smell I pondered was the kitchen. Memories of my wife and my Mom, all dusted in flour, spending all those hours baking festive cookies, breads and pastries. What great joy carnivorously dismembering gingerbread men. Even the smell of nutmeg sends me; I don’t even have to have any nog beneath it to enjoy it. And then the grand finale of walking in the house, taking off your boots and realizing the whole house smells like the feast! Pumpkin, apple, and cinnamon scents dancing out from the kitchen. This Christmas season I promise to stop and smell the peppermint.