Holiday Scents

These days of celebrations bring colorful treats of greens, reds, golds and other holiday shades. All the senses enjoy December, with its rich foods to taste, velvet cloths to touch, carols to hear. The laughter of children, the ringing of the bells, the singing in the streets, all the sounds of the month join the colors and savors to enjoy.

But please take a few minutes each day this month to enjoy the scents of these holidays, all by themselves.
Some scents are easy and common: the fresh pine needles scattered on floors, the kitchen-pots bubbling with ponche and many other goodies, the pungent cups of chocolate.

Some scents are more subtle, such as fresh fruits simmering in sugar on the stove. Some are less pleasant but strong: the smoke from the fires of the day of the devil, the whiffs of powder from exploded firecrackers of the celebrations.

Roses are a year-around scent to enjoy in the Highlands, unlike colder areas where they bloom in shorter seasons. Our rose bushes bud and bloom all year, and armfuls of long-stemmed blossoms can be bought and enjoyed any day in the markets. This is the eternal spring country, remember, not like those places with four seasons and roses to smell during just one of them. Fresh rose scent is a holiday delight in Guatemala, as it is all year.

Sure, evenings can be crisp this month, and lighting your fireplace may be needed to cut the chill. But that brings its own pleasant scents, from the crackling pine or—richer and better—cedar logs, if you have them.
Advent, Christmas, New Year’s, wonderful days and evenings to enjoy, each day a treat for all the senses. But we regret the REVUE has no scratch-and-sniff panels, at least yet. So it’s up to you to seek out those special scents of these holidays, and find pleasure from them daily.