Christmas Favorites: Part 2 - Smells

I have been thinking about this post ever since I wrote about one of my favorite Christmas sights. (And I spend a lot of time doing fairly mindless tasks that allow one's mind to ponder deeply so there has been a significant amount of thought put into this, in fact I'd be a little embarrassed to admit just how much thought has gone into this.)  I worked to narrow down what my favorite smells that to me really define Christmas.  At first I thought maybe peppermint or pine - and while these were good they just weren't right.  True they are Christmas-y but they don't invoke memories or really get me into the Christmas spirit.  My next thought was the crisp smell of a cold snowy night or the smell of fires burning.  Both seemed close but were also not quite right.  More than being Christmas smells they were winter smells.  It wasn't until I walked into a bank and it hit me - literally.  As soon as I walked through the doors I could smell Christmas.  What was that smell?...it's exactly what Christmas smells like...memories where flooding in and I know this was the right smell I just couldn't place it.  While scanning for the source of the smell and racking my brain for what it was I spied a sign welcoming all customers to join in this bank's Christmas celebration by enjoying some cookies and wassail.  Wassail! That was it! Being more pungent than spiced cider it is able to fill a whole building with its aroma.  I could not begin to tell you why this smell so strongly invokes memories and thoughts of Christmas for me but it does.  It smells of warmth and special-ness. Yes I'm pretty sure that's not a word...what I'm trying to say is that it's something that you don't smell very often or really at any time other than at Christmas.  It like Christmas is only around once a year. I could walk into a forest and smell pine or a candy store and smell peppermint but for some reason I've only ever smelled wassail in conjunction with Christmas celebrations.