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Few things smell more like Christmas than gingerbread baking in the oven. It's sweet, spicy, warm, and just a little old-fashioned. Even before you take the first bite, the smell has already filled the kitchen and made everything feel more festive. A Very Old Holiday Favorite Gingerbread has a long history in Europe, where ginger and other valuable spices were used in special baked treats. Over time, gingerbread became connected with festivals and celebrations. Eventually we got gingerbread men, decorated cookies, elaborate houses, and the annual family tradition of trying to make a gingerbread cottage stand upright. Sometimes it works. Sometimes there's...

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Peppermint is Christmas with a little sparkle. It's cool, sweet, refreshing, and completely different from the warm spices that dominate so much of the season. And then there's the candy cane. Put a peppermint stick into just about anything in December and suddenly it looks festive. Peppermint and Christmas Peppermint has been used for centuries, but its connection with Christmas grew alongside the popularity of candy canes and holiday sweets. Today it's hard to imagine December without peppermint. We find it in candy, cookies, chocolate bark, coffee drinks, hot cocoa, fudge, cakes, and ice cream. Even the familiar red-and-white color...

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Walk into a room with a fresh Christmas tree and you immediately know what season it is. That crisp, green, slightly woodsy fragrance is one of the most recognizable smells of Christmas. Even people who use artificial trees often find themselves searching for pine-scented candles, sprays, or fresh greenery because something about that evergreen fragrance makes Christmas feel complete. Why Evergreens Became Part of Christmas Evergreen trees have long symbolized life during the darkest, coldest months of the year. While other plants lose their leaves, evergreens stay green. Over the centuries, people brought branches indoors during winter celebrations, and eventually...