our home is small. there’s not a ton of room for many decorations (if i could put a nativity scene on every single surface i would). so to enhance the feel of christmasness in this house, i treated myself to a selection of some candles for the holidays at the perfect petal in highland square. the smell of the holiday season is now wafting all about. not all of these scents are overtly christmas. but they’re enough musky and woodsy and smokey that it feels like a winter wonderland in here.

• illume balsam & cedar
• tokyo milk marine sel
• rosy rings neptune
• (also pictured are my himalayan salt candle lamp and beeswax candle)

what are your favorite scents or candle companies, holiday or otherwise? what small things to you do around the house to make it feel more like thattimeofyear?

p.s. another easy (and more natural) way to make the home feel more christmas-y is to simmer some pantry staples on the stove. megan has a great tutorial on holiday simmering scents, which i definitely plan on trying.

elsewhere 

i’ve been compiling this list of links for at least three weeks now and i think it’s one of my favorites. enjoy!

• for mothers of daughters AND mothers of sons: i’ve started telling my daughters i’m beautiful.
• a new york times article about where we honeymooned. yes, i am totally bragging. and if you are planning an upcoming getaway and can handle some bit of backwoods, go here.
• caught on tape: random acts of love and kindness and surprise. i was bawling not even 30 seconds into this.
• watch andrea gibson perform her spoken word, birthday. it will give you goosebumps.
• i’m totally making these this december: yummy brownies from subtle revelry
• free download for sufjan stevens christmas (and other great music samplers on noisetrade!)
• expected paths of life can be a dreadful hoax. you are supposed to sing and dance while the music is played. (please watch this is if you have a hunch that, perhaps, there is more to life than school, work, retirement).

p.s. congratulations to emily who won the artifact uprising giveaway!