Heaven scent - Julia Lawless

Deck your hall with boughs of holly! This glossy, colour illustrated book explores the history and traditions of Christmas through the medium of its spicy scents and rich, evocative aromas.

Heaven Scent features ideas for a creative Christmas in three main sections covering Traditional Christmas Decorations, Scented Christmas Gifts and Seasonal Recipes. Each of the featured ideas for brightening up the wintertime are presented with an illustrated history of their origins and change in use through the years to the present.

Christmas Decorations: The Kissing Bough - these days recognised in a sprig of mistletoe - is revealed as a ancient Celtic love charm. Christmas wreathes, made from refreshing evergreen branches and sweet bay leaves are an ancient druidic protector. The decorated Christmas Tree, age old tree of life, has inspired families around the world for centuries: Heaven Scent shows how to make these scented decorations that will delight children and adults alike.

Scented Gifts: Can be perfume candles or soothing aromatic sleep pillows. The seasonal significance of aromatic oils such as frankincense, myrrh, orange and juniper is illustrated by the author, a respected aromatherapist, as she shows how to make your own pot pourri to bring a sweet smelling, relaxed ambience into the home.

Recipes: The feast is a key theme for all our Winter festivals. Spiced plums and mulled wine made with cinnamon and cloves have brought Christmas cheer throughout the ages. Also presented are easy to bake spiced biscuits and for those who love the richest of culinary pleasures, exotic game dishes are illustrated along with traditional Elizabethan meat stuffings using ginger, cardamom, and other traditional Christmas flavours.