Now, I Don’t Mean to Be a Scrooge

Now, I don’t mean to be a Scrooge, but hear me out. As a native New Yorker, the holidays were my favorite time of year to schlep from Long Island to the Big Apple. My family is Jewish, and even still, I stood in awe of the Rockefeller tree, believed I would be a Rockette, and most definitely enjoyed chestnuts by an open fire.

Currently, I am down in Texas, far from the NYC of my childhood and most of my 20s. No, I am not a Rockette, but I am a nurse. Before nursing, I studied fashion merchandising, so I’m sure you can imagine I constantly have thoughts of missed opportunities or things I remember being taught in school that I would implement when shopping. Today, I went to Bath and Body Works because they had a candle sale, and I had a reward about to expire. I decided to see if the rumors on the second Chanukkah candle were true. To my dismay, they were. Last year, I saw a Chanukkah candle at BBW for the first time, and it was scented after donuts, which are referred to as sufganiyot. I bought so many of them for friends and family because I was excited to see them for the first time.

I looked online this year and was excited to see they brought back yet another Chanukkah candle, but I saw some reviews that seemed a little odd. The comments stated they smelled like a church—nothing wrong with that, but not what I expect for a product based on a Jewish holiday. With a plethora of Christmas-themed scents and a single Chanukkah one, you would think there would be a lot of thought and R&D put into it. While in the store, I looked for the candle and hesitated to open the lid. Sure enough, I smelled what others stated. It was myrrh and sandalwood. It might smell good to some on its own, but it’s not truly about whether or not the scent itself is good. It’s about whether the product it was being marketed as matched up. If you told me this was a Christmas forest sent, I would say they hit the nail on the head. The fragrance description claims it smells like “gathering together with the ones you love most,” and sure, maybe for midnight mass or picking out a tree, but not for Chanukkah.

We have latkes, jelly donuts, and chocolate gelt, yet Myrrh and sandalwood were the choices. Most reviews state that it smells like a church or mass, but one review was quite striking. They stated that people needed to get over the fact that the jelly donut scent was not brought back and to essentially be grateful for the inclusivity. Last year, given the events that occurred, this candle was so welcomed. This year, it seems like it was an afterthought. Whether it is retailers advertising a Rosh Hashanah ham, a Yom Kippur feast, or rolls for Passover, there are a lot of missed opportunities. Amongst fellow Jews, leading up to our holiday shopping throughout the year, sometimes we joke about which retailer is going to have the faux pas this year. But in almost the year 2025, with AI and computers in our pockets, I’m always amazed at how things made it to print or production.

I am in no way, shape, or form boycotting Bath and Body Works, nor am I saying people should not shop there, I still made a purchase there today. There were other products, like the Emily in Paris collection, that I liked and purchased, even meeting the gift-with-purchase threshold they had going. I still wanted to share this experience in hopes that 1. if other consumers see people frustrated by something of this nature, the expectation shouldn’t just be to be grateful for the representation, and 2. Brands and companies need to take these things seriously. I highly doubt with a blindfolded test that, you would have anyone tell you it smells like anything other than a church or mass, which should immediately have been back to the drawing board. That being said, with all the projects and presentations I had to make in school over fictional companies and products, I was reviewed by my peers or professors. I was taught to understand the importance of getting that feedback before launch. Criticism is key for growth. Last year, I purchased so much of the Chanukkah line and supported it, this year, I passed it up as it missed the mark.