Alright—Christmas. It’s just one of those things that you know is coming, right? You feel it in the air, maybe your neighbor’s wreath is up too soon, or you catch a whiff of cinnamon that won’t leave your kitchen. It’s not just the lights or the music, it’s the smell. Everything about December smells like Christmas. Sure, you can buy the fancy holiday-scent sprays or whatever, but there is no comparison to the real deal. The real deal might be a little messier, but it just sticks in your brain in that cozy way. So anyway, here are a bunch of random, half-baked ways to make your home smell like Christmas without signing up to be the next Hallmark Christmas movie.
Chestnuts. Yes, Really.
Okay, I know this is the equivalent of saying “There is nothing like roasting chestnuts in your fireplace” and nobody actually does that anymore. Roasting chestnuts is just a reference in that one old Christmas song that everyone pretends to know the words to—but, it’s a real thing, and it works.
So if you find yourself with some real chestnuts, and roast them (in a pan or in the oven, it doesn’t matter), the smell is strangely warm and earthy and nostalgic—whatever that means, even if you’ve never smelled it before? When you’re done roasting them, dump them in a bowl and they will continue to give off that toasted, vaguely sweet thing for hours. And you can eat them, so that’s an added bonus. If you roast the chestnuts, remember to score them first unless you want to make chestnut grenades in your oven.
That Basket of Stuff You Tell Yourself You Are Going To DIY One Day
This one is a little crafty, but not in the Pinterest-overachiever way, just in the lazy Sunday way. You know what? You just gather together lots of Christmas smelling stuff – some cinnamon sticks, those dried orange slices that look good and smell good, pinecones, cloves – and then you just throw them all into a basket (or bowl, who cares). Drip a little essential oil on there (cinnamon or cedarwood works, or orange if you want to get crazy), and boom, now you have one of those “scent bombs” just chilling on the table. No flame, no plugs, just sitting there being festive and you look like you tried.
Eucalyptus In The Shower? Weirdly, It Works
Alright, this one sounds weird, but just hear me out – if you hang a bunch of fresh eucalyptus from your shower head, when you turn on the hot water, the steam travels through the leaves and pulls out the scent, and all of a sudden you’ve turned your bathroom into a mini-spa experience with all the fancy December vibes. Not like candy-cane level of festive – but clean and calming and just a little wintry. Plus, it kind of tricks you into thinking you’re starting your day in a cabin. Which is honestly a nice thought.
Just Bake Something. It doesn’t even matter what.
Cookies. Anything. It doesn’t even have to be good. The smell of sugar and butter and spice hanging in the oven basically does all the heavy lifting for you on the decorating front. Gingerbread, snickerdoodles, sugar cookies shaped like stars that lose their arms in the baking process – doesn’t even matter. That warm vanilla-cinnamon smell is the only smell that makes it definitely feel like you actually planned a little holiday—rather than just bought some discount wrapping paper and a gas station tin of popcorn for Christmas Eve. If you only get to bake one thing this whole season, do it if only to fill your home with that smell. The cookies are just an afterthought.
Simmer Things On The Stove So Your House Smells Like A Potpourri Shop
So this is sort of the classic. A nice pot of water, a few apple slices, some cinnamon sticks, a handful of cloves, maybe some cranberries if you’re feeling fancy or you just have a bag of them hiding in the back of your fridge from Thanksgiving. Put it on low and just leave it alone. Your whole space will start to smell like some seasonal fairytale. And yeah you will probably never check the water level again and for sure burn an apple cider candle once in your life, but you’ll figure it out. Just keep an eye on it or set a timer so you don’t accidentally end up with a burnt apple cider candle. That’s called trial and error. But when you get that right scent—ugh, it’s so good.
Candles, Obviously, But Like… Choose Good Ones
Not all candles are true. Some of them smell like bathroom spray pretending to be a candle. But you come across good ones, too, like for a good pine, spiced apple, or even peppermint scent that doesn’t feel like a candy cane truck hit you in your face—those are gold. Light 2 or three around your house and it’s transformed into mood lighting and it probably smells like you live in a Christmas-themed story. Just be strategic. You don’t want 8 different scents battling it out. Just try for one scent per each room in your home. And yes, blowing out candles somehow still smells amazing, too.
At The End Of The Day, It’s More The Vibe Than Any Of The Actual Recipe
Honestly, all of this stuff is more about creating a feeling than it is about crossing tasks off a list. You certainly don’t have to do everything in to do this list. You might only light one candle. You might only simmer a single pot. You might hang a random eucalyptus branch you bought at a flower shop. Or roast chestnuts one time in your life, and laugh when you mess it up. You shouldn’t be doing this to impress anyone, it’s really about you. It’s about walking into your house, taking a breath and saying to yourself, “yeah okay this is what December is supposed to feel like.”
You’ll likely forget half these tips next year. That’s fine. Just pick one or do your own weird version of it. Christmas doesn’t smell perfect. Christmas smells like a whole bunch of things colliding in a warm space—and that’s sort of the whole point.
