I am making a squash-carrot soup with apple and nutmeg and chipotle. And I've got rolls warming too. My kitchen smells AMAZING.

Thinking about my Christmas candles and now the soup makes me realize I've become a lot more aware of how the way things smell can lift my mood. With a house of teen boys, lots of times it just smells like feet. (That's mostly a joke, though sadly not entirely.)

Maybe I'll get an essential oil warmer or some such froo-froo nonsense, or splurge on a set of beeswax candles to burn on any old day I want instead of saving them for Christmas.