In partnership with Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day.

The 6 Best Scents for the Holiday Season

Enjoy aromas that bring you joy and good cheer.

BY GINA KELLY

Your sense of smell plays a vital role in your daily life. The scent of gas signals danger, the aroma of cookies sparks hunger, and the smell of flowers invokes feelings of happiness. When you tune into your olfactory system, you’ll realize you’re surrounded by smells that trigger emotions and thoughts. This holiday season, you can infuse cheery and warm feelings and memories by incorporating certain smells into your daily routine.

1. Snow

Many people envision snow when thinking about the holidays. It’s a seasonal staple, and while it may be subtle, that fragrance you breathe in right before the flurries start is snow’s scent. It’s easier to smell snow because it’s accompanied by a drop in the temperature. Other organic scents can’t travel very far in colder air, so our olfactory system is left to smell far finer fragrances, such as cool humidity. It smells fresh, clean, and crisp.

If you want to capture the aroma of snow in your home, you can absorb indoor smells with baking soda and open the windows for a few minutes in colder weather. You can also use an air freshener, like Mrs. Meyer’s Snowdrop Room Freshener. This scent was inspired by the snowdrop flower, which flourishes in cold temperatures. The fresh, cool fragrance is reminiscent of a crisp winter day.

2. Ginger

Ginger became a popular herb throughout Europe in the Middle Ages. It was used as medicine and candy, but sometime around the 16th century, it made its way into spiced cookies. It isn’t clear when the infamous gingerbread was first created, but it has become an important holiday tradition. You can find ginger-scented linen spray and candles to bring the aroma into your home—or simply whip up a batch of gingerbread cookies. The spicy and fresh fragrance of ginger will revive you for the next festive event.

3. Cloves

If you’re looking for a woodsy and sweet aroma to evoke thoughts of holiday and tradition, try adding the smell of cloves to your festivities. Medieval herbalists believed that a combination of cloves, other spices, and oranges warded off the Black Death. They created pomander balls, oranges combined with cloves, to hang around their necks and homes. Eventually, it became a symbol of good health and fortune.

Creating pomander balls to bring the scent of cloves into homes has become a holiday tradition. People dot oranges with cloves and use them as seasonal decorations, which is an easy and fun tradition to bring to your household too. You can also use some of Mrs. Meyer’s Orange Clove Hand Soap to carry that clove scent to different spots in your home. Their hand soaps are made with essential oils and other thoughtfully chosen ingredients, so you can be sure you’ll have an authentic aroma floating throughout your house.

4. Peppermint

Mint represents hospitality in Greek mythology. No one in town would accept two strangers, but an older couple finally took them in. Before serving a meal, they wiped the table down with mint. The strangers revealed themselves as Greek gods and deemed mint the symbol of hospitality.

To give your home a welcoming fragrance for your holiday guests, incorporate the smell of peppermint. You can add some mint oil to your diffuser and clean your house with Mrs. Meyer’s Peppermint Multi-Surface Everyday Cleaner. The products are made with plant-derived and other thoughtfully chosen ingredients that will leave your home smelling fresh and minty.

Orange

It probably seems strange to consider sunny citrus a winter scent, but this tradition has a heartwarming origin. According to the legend, Saint Nicholas would give gold to the impoverished. When the idea of giving gifts during the holiday season caught on, oranges were rare, like gold, to many Europeans. It was considered a special treat to receive an orange in your holiday stocking.

To bring this citrusy tradition to the forefront of your holiday, try using orange-scented products throughout your home. You can find orange candles, room sprays, and Mrs. Meyer’s Orange Clove Dish Soap to invigorate even your dish-cleaning experience. This dish soap is made with essential oils and other thoughtfully chosen ingredients, including clove and orange peel oil, offering a pleasantly festive scent.

6. Pine

When you think of the holidays, evergreen trees are probably right at the top of your list for symbols of the season. Pine, fir, and spruce trees have been part of holiday festivities for many years. Pagans brought branches into their homes to remind them of spring. Romans decorated with trees to ring in the new year, and Christians use evergreens to symbolize their everlasting relationship with God.

If you relish the smell of pine, you aren’t alone. Many people look forward to pine-scented products to fill their homes with this festive fragrance. In addition to decorating with evergreen trees and wreaths, you can use Mrs. Meyer’s Iowa Pine Soy Candle so that piney aroma follows you throughout.