Spicy Simmering Potpourri

Fill a small saucepan about 3/4 full of water. Add:

3 cinnamon sticks
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cloves (or whole cloves)

Simmer this blend on low (adding water as needed) and your entire house will smell like you just baked cookies! Bonus: a little extra humidity during the dry winter months.

I tried floating a few lemon slices on top to make it pretty (otherwise it just looks like brown water), but the citrus scent clashed with the fresh-baked. Any ideas?

I've been using this batch for several days now and it still smells great. It got a little goopy around the edges after a while so I changed the pan, which I worried would be hard to clean. It wasn't!

Tomorrow, it's back to school and work for us. I'm sorry to see it end, but looking forward to getting back into a routine (although sleeping in has been nice...).

Here's my favorite picture from the holidays:

Niece Kerri (from Chicago), me, Madeline, Steve, sister-in-law Jenny (in front)
Photo by Kerri's beau, Jeff!