Up ahead: pointless rambling about my sensory experiences with smell and what Christmas death would smell like.
My mother loves scented plug-ins, room sprays, etc. and she likes to change scents to match the seasons. I normally don't have a problem with this as we have similar tastes in what we find olfactorily pleasing (fun fact: read a scientific paper a few years ago which suggests that liking the same scents may be genetic, so if you and one of your parents like the same scents it's not coincidence) I normally read of ASD/AS individuals as being averted to that stuff, for me it's two sided; if I like the smell, I experience it so intensely it's like a nosegasm. I'm one of those terrible people who has an obnoxiously large collection of colognes and perfumes and will basically bathe myself in them cause the smell stimulation feels so nice. However if I don't like a smell I breathe through my mouth till it's gone since it makes me nauseous, or just wear a mask if I know it's going to be around for a while.
This Christmas season, my mother has picked up this horrid, I mean HORRID room spray. It's like, if death decided to come by and chill for Christmas eve. A rancid smell of cinnamon, walnuts, and some undertone of pine, but it is not a good combination at all. I've been having to dig into my pack of surgical masks (I always have tons of them since for me my sensory sensitivity is primarily for smell) and wear them around the house; she keeps asking if I'm sick or having allergies, but I really don't want to accidently hurt her feelings by telling her the stuff smells like crap to me ![Confused :?](./images/smilies/icon_confused.gif)