No EOs though for me - I happily discovered some really lovely candles made by a local (to me, of course) woman that I have been using to scent the house all Christmas-y. Lucky find for me.

About your tree lights: do you have a brightness exposure setting? I think you have to do the “negative compensation” thing. (no, the irony of such a statement following my first paragraph is not lost ;-) I would try a low setting like -6 or -9. Let us know if that works, I can help you fiddle some more, if necessary. Must have those “pretty lights” pictures!

Scentwise: I recommend some fir balsam absolute, diluted and sprayed, for fragrance. It will make your Yuletide merry and bright, while sparing your husband’s rhino-fluids. In a pinch, spruce or fir EO, diluted in water, in a spray bottle. It will be cloudy, so hide it from the guests. Aesthetics *do* matter, lol.

PS for all who worried needlessly,(none from this savvy crowd) in a rather distraught manner, on other forums, about “the poor perfumers” caught in Luca’s agenda-driven rant, they’re just fine. Rolled off their back. In fact, one is putting in a $5k order for Brosse bottles this week, so her Yuletime is merry and bright too ;-)

Mwah!

Andy, yeah, there was a bit of fervor there that started to emerge that was nearly religious in nature. Some rather petty posturing as well, which is unfortunate, since the “let’s agree to disagree” aspect the whole discussion(s) started out with seemed promising enough.

Barry - thanks :)

I also read the brawl on Luca Turin’s blog. Quite an interesting debate.

Andy, I’m not so much worried about capturing the tree on camera as I am worried about the light futzing up the focus for when I take snapshots of my twins around it for when Santa comes. You have some excellent ideas though for me to chew on, though. I’m gonna have to look into it a bit more, and/or get a new and nicer camera actually.

Iris - nope it’s a fake tree. I am sad about it, but we had to do it, since my husband’s allergic reactions to a real one just grew worse every year. The last year we had a real one, his face and eyes got so puffy that we knew we had to kiss our years of real trees goodbye. I really miss the smell, too, but I don’t miss my poor husband’s sneezing fits, gross snotty allergy nose, or his general misery at Christmas due to the tree. Alas, I wish I could have a real tree anyhow. Trees are fairly spendy even here in the Pacific Northwest, but not outrageously so, and if you know someone with their own tree farm it sure helps.

Christina, the umbrella is actually just a glass ornament, not a light. The glow is just an effect from the flash and a light bulb behind the umbrella :)