What is your favorite holiday scent and memory?
The holidays are rife with tradition and memories, with more than a few seasonal cookies, coffees and festivities sprinkled in between. So we asked visitors to our recent News and Brews community pop-up in Trussville: what is your favorite holiday scent and memory?
Cathy Freeman, of Trussville:
My favorite holiday scent is fir trees. And my favorite memory is, of course, going to buy a Christmas tree every year. Even many decades later, I still insist on a live Christmas tree for the smell.
Shelly Ann Edge, of Birmingham:
My favorite holiday scent is cinnamon. Cinnamon just is everything good about the holidays; fall, winter and Christmas. I love cinnamon. My favorite holiday memory is going to The Nutcracker in downtown Birmingham with my mom.
Talulah Edge, of Birmingham:
My favorite scent is acorn spice. I don’t know why. It smells very good. We use it around the house.
Odalys Ordonez-Medina, of Birmingham:
My family is from Mexico and so, my favorite holiday scent and memory is actually my grandma cooking mole for the Christmas holidays.
Cheryl Hamilton, of Trussville:
Originally, I’m from Vermont. My favorite memory around the holidays is oranges because every year, my favorite aunt would come to Vermont and we would go skiing. And we’d always pack a lunch before we went skiing and oranges were always part of that. She would slice the oranges and pack them for lunch. And I always associate the smell of oranges with winter and the holiday and my favorite aunt and skiing.
Richard Alquist, of Trussville:
My favorite holiday scent is actually these little green spinach balls. And they are from my favorite memory. Where I grew up, my neighbors down the street always threw a huge open house, Christmas party for everybody in the neighborhood. And every year they made these spinach balls.
Chris Jones, of Homewood:
My favorite holiday scent and memory is those Starbucks gingerbread cake things. They were what got me through those exams in college right around Christmas time and let me know that it was about to end and I’d be with my family soon.
Jason Hill, of Trussville:
My favorite holiday scent is the smell of a baking ham in my grandmother’s oven. And even though she’s passed away, my wife actually gets honey baked ham and she’ll put it in the oven. And when I walk in and I smell the aroma of that honey baked ham, it takes me back to East Tennessee, where I’m with my grandmother, my aunts and uncles. It’s an instant memory.
Bill Long, of Meridian, Mississippi:
My favorite holiday scent and memory is sitting around the table with Thanksgiving and smelling the sage dressing and being with family and just having a nice time, just chilling out.
Brandi Brugge, of Trussville:
My favorite holiday scent is the maple, Jimmy Dean sausage. Because every Christmas Eve night my family and I put together the breakfast casserole to serve on Christmas morning and we used the maple sausage. After we open presents on Christmas Day, we get together and eat breakfast casserole and just hang out and chat.
Richard Healy, of Trussville:
My favorite holiday scent would be cinnamon. And my favorite memory is probably opening up the presents on Christmas morning when I was little. Back then, we only got one major present and then a bunch of little stocking stuffers.
Daniel Gaddy, of Moody:
My favorite holiday scent, I’ve got to go with my mom’s sweet potato casserole. She always makes it for Thanksgiving and Christmas. It’s kind of a signal for the holiday season. My favorite memory has got to be showing my son the movie Scrooged with Bill Murray. As a kind of a Scrooge myself, the movie is probably the only holiday Christmas movie I enjoy. Unless you count Die Hard as a Christmas movie. Showing him that was really great. He enjoyed it, and it’s become an annual tradition for us.
Paul Skripnik, of Birmingham:
My favorite holiday scent in memory is pine trees. I grew up in Michigan and it reminds me of my childhood.
Laura Saint James, of Trussville:
My favorite holiday scent is probably the Christmas tree smell. I love it. And then, my favorite holiday memory is going to the Christmas tree lighting with my family.
Leni Riefenstahl made movies for Hitler. A new documentary digs through her archives
Adolf Hitler commissioned filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl to make propaganda about Nazi Germany. She lived to be 101 years old and denied knowing about the Holocaust.
Shooting attack at Jerusalem bus stop kills at least 5
Paramedics said at least five people were killed in a shooting attack in Jerusalem after two attackers opened fire at a bus stop at a busy intersection in north Jerusalem.
World Cup ticket sales are about to begin. Scoring them may not be easy — or cheap
FIFA is set to launch the first window of regular ticket sales for the 2026 World Cup on Wednesday. Brace yourself: because they may not be easy to get — or cheap.
20 years ago, New Orleans fired its teachers. It’s been rebuilding ever since
When New Orleans schools reopened after Katrina, most of the city's educators didn't get their jobs back. Instead, they were often replaced with young people who were new to town — and new to teaching.
How brightly colored do we want our food? For brands, it’s a hill to dye on
Sam's Club is among the food makers removing artificial dyes from products, yet hoping shoppers don't notice a difference in color. But why?
Alone in a foreign country, a young woman is saved by two strangers
In 1980, Elaine Batchelor was attacked on a night train while backpacking alone in Europe. Two strangers stepped in and stayed by her side for the rest of the 12-hour ride.
