Holiday Living and Dining: Ambience

When I think of Christmas, I think of the smell of Christmas trees, darkness lit by Christmas lights, and warm houses that stand up to snow. What can I say? I grew up in small town New England where people's houses actually manifested the idea of Christmas warmth that you read about in magazines. It seems like the best part of the holiday season is holiday ambience - light, smell, sound, taste, texture - all of which you can create for yourself in your home. Here are some back-to-basics Christmas ambience ideas that you can use the whole winter or all year:

• Sound: Nothing compliments the sound of a crackling fireplace like the sound of a crackling record. If I had extra bucks right now, I would invest in an Audiowood turntable. Custom carpenter Joel Scilley builds these burlwood turntables in San Francisco. Any musician knows that wood resonates with the warmest sound, and that vinyl sounds fifty times warmer than digital. Is it pricey? Maybe. But a good turntable is an investment that you'll use way beyond Christmas.

   

   

• Lights: I say skip the chemically-scented petroleum-based votives and opt for old fashioned oil lamps. Brass oil lamps are inexpensive and you can use them for years. I spent one New Years Eve in a cabin lit only by oil lamps, and from this experience I can say that warm light generated by oil lamps definitely will put you in the mood to relax and reflect. For around $8 a lamp, they're a great investment that you can reuse for winters (and summers) to come.

   

   

• Smell: It came as a bit of a surprise to me to learn that the sweet balsam odor we smell in houses with Christmas trees is not usually entirely from the tree. The tree might be part of it, but most people augment the tree's natural odor with other balsam-scented products. The two yummiest warm pine-tree household scent options I've found are William Sonoma's Winter Forest Essential Oil collection and Aura Cacia's Fir Needle, Balsam essential oil. The latter is cheaper and less likely to trigger allergic reactions in chemically-sensitive people, but requires more ingenuity to use than just washing your dishes with the absolutely delicious-smelling Winter Forest dish soap.

   

   

• Taste: What's the difference between a Christmas cake and a regular week day cake? They're both made of flour, sugar and eggs - it's presentation that makes the difference. I want this red glass cake stand from Fishs Eddy, which might, if placed in front of an oil lamp, cast a warm red glow across the table. It reminds me of my grandmother's house, which is probably why I saw it and thought, "Holidays!"

   

   

• Texture: I'm generally not a fan of buying more-expensive brand-name stuff when cheaper alternatives exist, but I'm coveting a Synchilla fleece blanket from Patagonia. I've been wearing the same Synchilla jacket for the past 12 years, and it's still warm. I can't even imagine the tastiness of cuddling up in one of these blankets on a cold night with a cup of hot chocolate.

Happy holidays!

Posted by: Chaya Goodman