Nothing is more memorable than a smell. One scent can be unexpected, momentary and fleeting, yet conjure up a childhood summer beside a lake in the mountains; another, a moonlit beach; a third, a family dinner of pot roast and sweet potatoes during a myrtle-mad August in a Midwestern town. Smells detonate softly in our memory like poignant land mines hidden under the weedy mass of years. Hit a tripwire of smell and memories explode all at once. A complex vision leaps out of the undergrowth. ~Diane Ackerman, A Natural History of the Senses

Monday it snowed.

No, no, this picture isn't from Monday (it's from last winter).. I don't think any snow actually stuck to the ground 

anywhere in the city BUT I must say I got a little excited when I saw the white flakes fall. 

Winter makes me want to drink tea, curl up on the couch with a big fuzzy blanket, burn holiday scented candles

and surround myself with family and friends. 

I know I've said it, but I'll say it again... I love candles. 

Here are some of my favorite holiday scented candles... some are too expensive and some are probably too cheap,

but each one smells so unbelievable. And what a perfect gift!