Christmas Scents

I have some very clear memories of Christmas when I was about 4 or 5. Before then Christmas is pretty hazy. Like the slide below:

A Christmas in San Gabriel I don't recall clearly.

The Christmas I remember was at San Gabriel. I don't remember very much about my Christmas at home, but I remember the church activities.

Santa with the church kids.

I can remember that the church prepared a bag of treats for each of the kids. These bags always contained apples, oranges and some candy and maybe a walnut or two. That is what I remember--the combined smell of apples, oranges and Christmas candy. Everytime I am in a store and I get that particular combination of smells, I flash back to San Gabriel.

I remember something else about that Christmas. When Santa handed out the toys to the kids, I got a card of plastic dollhouse furniture. I can remember holding that card so clearly, absolutely delighted to have received that gift. (See, I've always been enamored of dollhouses.)

To me Christmas will always smell like apples and oranges and hard Christmas candy.

LSW