Welcome to the weekly Perfume Chat Room, perfumistas! I envision this chat room as a weekly drop-in spot online, where readers may ask questions, suggest fragrances, tell others their SOTD, comment on new releases or old favorites, and respond to each other. The perennial theme is fragrance, but we can interpret that broadly. This is meant to be a kind space, so please try not to give or take offense, and let’s all agree to disagree when opinions differ. In fragrance as in life, your mileage may vary! YMMV.

Today is Saturday, November 22, and it is almost Thanksgiving! I really enjoy Thanksgiving, because I like to cook, I love having my family around, and I enjoy setting a formal dinner table since I do that so rarely! I also love the scents that come with Thanksgiving, mostly from the aforementioned cooking. I grow many of the herbs that I will use: actually parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme, as the song says. Their fragrance is alluring even before I start cooking.

I already know what my holiday fragrance will be: this year’s Shalimar flanker, issued in honor of the perfume’s 100th anniversary. Shalimar l’Essence is the first Shalimar I’ve really loved, though there are a couple of other “editions” I have liked very much, such as the eau de cologne formulation. My lovely husband brought me a bottle from his recent trip to Las Vegas, where there is a Guerlain boutique. To my nose, it has all the charm of the current eau de parfum minus the burnt rubber smoke that I always get from that. It’s very vanilla-centric without being sweet; it becomes soft and powdery, and it lasts for hours on skin and days on fabric.

I like it so much that I got the bigger bottle for my own Christmas gift from lovely husband! In fact, when I was picking it up at the big department store in our city’s biggest mall, I even persuaded a much younger woman to try it. She was browsing among the Guerlain scents, and I pointed out the tester and suggested she might like it. Then I moved along. She came rushing up to me a few minutes later, holding out her arm for me to sniff and exclaiming how much she loved it. She was browsing with her fiancé so I’m pretty sure they left the mall with a bottle. Do I get my enabler pin?

Do you have any special traditions, recipes, or scents for Thanksgiving, if you celebrate it? Or for other holidays at this time of year?

P.S. As always, I’m very thankful for all of you who read my musings here and especially those of you who share your own thoughts in the comments. Happy Thanksgiving to all!