The Smells of Disney at Home for the Holidays

My folks were artificial tree people, my Dad worked insanely long hours, working two jobs- so an outing to search for the perfect "real" tree just wasn't in the cards for us. We had LOADS of other really sweet holiday traditions that I remember fondly, but having a real, live, National Lampoon's Christmas tree was never one of them. (Which if we are using Chevy Chase as our measure of success, that's probably a blessing.)

When my husband and I were first married and living in our first, painfully small apartment we decided our first Christmas should be celebrated by buying a live tree. The trip to pick out the tree was fun, the smell of this new, live tree was magnificent and we felt decidedly VERY Hallmark Channel Christmas. However, when EVERY.SINGLE.NEEDLE systematically fell from that tree, hid in carpet fibers, and created an EPIC post-holiday disaster, we decided our real tree days were done. From then on, we would invest in the fullest, biggest, pre-lit and most fake tree money could buy. (Take that Hallmark!)

The downside of that, the real tree smell was gone like the Ghost of Christmas Past. We didn't have it, fake trees smell like...well, like nothing. So my search began, HOW do I replicate those warm holiday scents? How do I get the real tree smell into my fake treehouse?

When you hit the stores around the holidays, it's a sea of holiday scented candles, they are everywhere. Every cookie is represented, every spice, every holiday beverage, and of course, LOADS of "Christmas Tree" scented candles line the shelves. I am here to tell you, as a self-professed candle addict, NOT ALL CANDLES ARE CREATED EQUALLY. Hear me people, not all candles are created equal. Just because it has a big, honking, 90% off sale tag on it does NOT mean that it will bring the spirit of Christmas into your home. I have found the "Christmas Tree" (and every other associated name evergreen, "fresh-cut," balsam fir-whatever name) scent to be consistently harsh, in your face, intensely strong and overbearing. We had SO many misses that I had sworn the scent off altogether.

Until...EriBella + Co. I discovered their amazing "Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe" scented candle by complete accident. As a subscriber to the "Plussing It" subscription box, their 4 oz size was included in my Launch Box.

The packaging is adorable, petite, and understated. The scent is an absolute home run! It encompasses all things holiday like no other candle, spray, or melt has ever been able to do for me. It has that familiar hint of pine, but not in an overpowering "Am I covered in tree sap" kind of way. There are other notes of spices and orange that lend it to a cleaner fragrance than other holiday candles emit.  My husband is INCREDIBLY sensitive to fragrances, it takes a special candle to pass the sneezy test in my house, EriBella nailed it.

This candle has the run of the house, we burn it downstairs while we are cooking or watching holiday movies. However, every morning it comes back upstairs with me to my home office. I'm a travel agent who specializes in Disney vacation planning. I have this adorable candle planted front and center on my desk as it reminds me most of all of my favorite place on earth, Walt Disney World.

EriBella named this sweet candle after the "Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe" in the Liberty Square area of Magic Kingdom. If you've never been, it's the place where Christmas lasts all year long. Even if you visit Walt Disney World in the dog days of summer, you can step into this shop and smell the familiar scents of the holidays, shop for ornaments, and start dreaming of your own "White Christmas" even while sweat drips down your back.

Like all things Disney, it's complete magic and this candle takes me there every time I smell it. How incredible, a candle can multitask as a holiday favorite scent AND instantly transport me to my happy place. This beauty will live on my desk for as long as this amazing soy candle lasts! (And then I will be ordering more...and more...and MORE!!!)

Order yours here and use code DISNESS10 to SAVE 10% OFF your order!

(PS-no affiliate links in here, just sharing an awesome product we found, believe in and negotiated a discount for our readers!)