“
Home For The Holidays” November 21, 2012 A Lincoln Daily News Magazine Copyright 2012
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Makeyourhomemorewelcomingwithholidayscents
N
othing can warm a home quite like the
enticing smells of the holiday season.
When guests arrive at the front door
and delicious aromas are wafting from the
kitchen, it sets the mood for a warm, happy
holiday gathering.
However, you don’t have to rely on just what
is in the oven to make your home welcoming.
There are as many different
types of air-freshening and
scent-delivery systems as there
are folks who use them. Choose
what is right for specific rooms,
and spread the holiday cheer
throughout your home.
When your meal is cooking,
the smells of turkey in the oven,
fresh-baked bread and pumpkin
pie on the counter can be more
than enough to entice family and friends into the
kitchen to join you while you prepare.
But after the meal, bring them back to the
kitchen with the pleasant aroma of apples,
cinnamon and citrus. Light a scented candle
and set it on your stove, or plug in a simmering
potpourri and enjoy the mingling of scents in the
room while you do your cleanup chores in the
kitchen.
During your meal it is a good idea not to use
scents or scented candles in your dining room.
Let the food be the appealing factor when you
sit down to dine. But after you’ve cleared the
table, if it is a place where family will gather to
visit, play a board game or put together a puzzle,
a clean, new scent will help set the happy tone in
that room as well.
Where family often gathers is around the
Christmas tree. Make the room
more inviting with scents of
the season. Choose a scent
that doesn’t necessarily imitate
food. Fresh wintergreen scents
or peppermint, something
natural and woody, will warm
the room without making your
guests hungry again.
Remember that not every
room has to smell like
Christmas to be inviting. Using a wax cone
product or flameless oil diffuser of fresh, clean
scents like fresh laundry or clean linen can make
a bathroom feel clean even when it is getting a
lot of use.
If you decorate your bath at Christmastime
and want the scent to follow the holiday theme,
try going light with a bit of mint or a light
evergreen. Remember you can have too much
of a good thing, so consider the size of your
room and choose something that won’t knock
your guests over when they open the door.
For guests staying overnight, add a pleasant
lavender scent in the bedrooms. Lavender is
known to be a relaxing scent that aids in sleep.
Give your guests the best opportunity for a good
night’s rest by adding this scent in an oil diffuser.
Also, it is good to remember that there are
those who are sensitive to certain smells. While
they are guests in your home, they may not want
to tell you this, so be sure to ask, especially about
the scents in the rooms where they will sleep.
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