Hi everyone! I have been in the kitchen cooking essential oils up a storm to create The Fragrant Ones' Christmas line. We have 6 amazing products coming out this year (nope, not telling yet!) and 5 gift sets, wrapped and ready for your loved ones. I can promise a feeling of nostalgia from the fragrances of Christmas past with every whiff of these new soaps, solids, scrubs, and...oh yes, a lip balm.
Let's face it, when it gets cold, we get scaley. Dry skin itches, and even worse, it looks bad!! Who wants skin that looks older than it should? To combat the wind and weather, I put ton of emollients and humectants in each of these products. What that means is, your skin will absorb gobs of moisture and hang on to it! I used the same kind of natural ingredients I always do - cocoa butter, shea butter, glycerine, avacado butter, grapeseed and almond oils - and then perfumed some awesome new essential oil combos. I guarantee you will feel great and smell even better.
To find inspiration, I went to my Christmas memories, which includes a LOT of cooking and music. My mom always had a few things that only made special appearances at Christmas. Wassil, Trash, (which is an awesome Chex mix recipe given to her by my Gandy) Spritz cookies, and fudge made their once a year appearances starting around Thanksgiving. My jobs as a little girl were always to poke cloves into oranges and put those little gummy cherries into the center of the cookies...and of course to eat em!!!
The second thing we always did was start the Christmas music in the house and car...I barely ever made it much past Halloween before I started the begging. My family may have the largest Christmas cd collection going, and I think I am about the only person I know who knows all 4 verses to almost every Christmas hymn. We sang and baked and then sang some more. The highlight of my holiday was the Christmas Truth concert. If you grew up with Christian music you might remember them - they sang complicated arrangements with lots of harmony. Every year they did a Christmas show at Mt. Paran Church of God. I was there every year starting at 3! I know it's funny, but Truth guys were my Justin Beibers.
I've gone back to both of these categories of memories to inspire me as I've created these new products. The Fragrant Ones is nothing if not a celebration of all sorts of creativity and events that bring LIFE! I therefore wanted to offer you a few of my memories. I've included the recipe for Wassil and a couple of my favorite Christmas tunes. I hope they get you in the spirit!!!
Wassil:
1 qt. hot tea
1 qt. cranberry juice
1 qt. apple juice
3 cinnamon sticks
12 whole cloves stuck in an orange
1 cup sugar
2 cups orange juice
1/2 cup lemon juice
Heat and serve!
Music:
Avalon - Joy to the World
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-lKAyPYI_I
Newsong - Sing Noel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Cq1GdiIFLE
White Christmas (Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, Danny Kaye, Vera Allen) - Snow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH2KGboA35c
Mariah Carey - All I Want for Christmas is You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXQViqx6GMY
4 Him - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8drNURbYlc
Amy Grant - Tennessee Christmas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKwOByDgW3I
Wow...this was a precious walk down memory lane:-) God has blessed us with such a wonderful life! And now we get to add the joy of discovering and inventing bath and body products in our very own kitchen!!! Smells glorious! Only mistake we've made is we forgot to turn on the Christmas music:-( Next time!
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