It is the most wonderful time of the year! There is nothing on Earth as peaceful and relaxing as a well decorated festive home. If you haven’t been out to my place, well, rest assured, we have “the North Pole” on our vision board and I sure strive to meet it. But, as I’ve always said on this website, the icing on the cake of a good nurturing and relaxing environment is the fragrance that hangs in the air. No one, and I mean no one, is as good at fragrance as Yankee Candle. If you disagree with that, I will cut you with a knife. Whew – my goodness. I apologize. I got a little carried away there. Please forgive me.
Anyway, to commemorate the arrival of the most special time of the year, I thought I would do my part to help out those who may be scent-curious, but have always been scent-challenged. If you want your house smelling like the Christmas spirit, fret no more. My list of Yankee Candle’s 10 best holiday fragrances is here. Allow me to guide the way like Rudolph’s big red nose. What a cute reference – I can be a cute writer too, guys.
The Top 10 Holiday Fragrances from Yankee Candle
10. Holiday Bayberry – No sane person knows what a bayberry even is but it smells like Christmas and that’s all that fucking matters. It smells like plants and Christmas. That’s exactly what I look for in a Christmas candle that I don’t want to smell like cookies and cinnamon. Every now and then you need to break up the routine, y’know?
9. Sparkling Cinnamon – There’s no denying what this candle is or what it’s about. It’s just cinnamon, and fuck me if cinnamon doesn’t smell damn good. It’s as safe a gift as you’ll find – a good quality fragrance without a particular component that might make it weird to some. That’s probably why they sell a boat load of these bad boys at Christmastime.
8. Christmas Eve – I don’t know if they call this one Christmas Eve because it smells like what I would imagine the musk of Santa Claus smells like or what, but it is a delightful holiday fragrance that has all of the holiday spice you’re accustomed to with all of the holiday magic to go with it.
7. Red Berry and Cedar – It reminds me of the old cedar wardrobe my parents had when I was growing up…I can still smell that thing on an early Christmas morning to wake them up so we could open presents to this day. It’s a different type of holiday scent, but it’s underrated in the larger holiday candle conversation.
6. Red Apple Wreath – Who says the apple has to go after fall? I respect the rules as much as the next guy, but I dig it. Let’s put a little more fruit into our holiday rotation with this one. Also, do they actually put apples in wreaths somewhere on this planet? Because I’m in.
5. Silver Bells – Good luck finding Silver Bells anywhere these days, but it is absolutely on my Yankee Candle Christmas Mount Rushmore. It’s all the spice of a holiday candle mixed with brass. That’s right – straight metal. They won’t say that because you’re not going to sell any damn candles by saying they smell like metal….but it’s a win in my book.
4. North Pole – The crisp sting of fresh snow and fresh winter air paired with the sweetness of a candy cane. I would imagine this is exactly what the Candy Cane Forest at the North Pole smells like, and I wouldn’t put it past the Yankee Candle team to have conjured the magic to get there and know what it smells like in person.
3. Balsam and Cedar – full review – I mean…it’s a Christmas tree, right? Who doesn’t love the smell of a good live Christmas tree during the holidays? I can’t put it any simpler than that. Balsam and Cedar is precise and accurate – you will have people walking into your house saying “where’s the live Christmas tree?” Imagine the utter shock on their faces when you tell them – SURPRISE – it’s a candle.
2. Sparkling Snow – My father nearly ruined Sparkling Snow for me back in 2008 when I was burning it and he walked in and said it smelled like soap. After that, I was afraid it was going to lose a bit of its holiday luster. Can’t be talkin’ ’bout Christmas spirit when it smells like Irish Spring, SMDH! Nonetheless, I was able to power through that mental block out of sheer mental toughness, and to this day, I find Sparkling Snow to be a good change-of-pace holiday candle. It’s a nice, clean, pure scent that makes for a delightful alternative to the typical Christmas smells like sugar cookies, trees, and cinnamon.
1. Home for the Holidays – It is my go-to Christmas scent and has been for as long as I can remember. I like the warm and ethereal fragrances, and Home for the Holidays fits the bill. It helps that it has notes of clove in it, and clove happens to be one of my favorite holiday flavors. This one always reminds me of the smell of Christmas decorations and helping to decorate the house as a kid. I’m not sure why, because we never burned Yankee Candles in our house when I was a kid. *shrugs*
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.
Subscribe to the SoBros Network Patreon here – $5/month gets you instant access to an exhaustive content library of articles, podcasts, and videos created exclusively for our subscribers!