There’s nothing like the holidays in New England, it’s so classically beautiful here. Houses decorated with lights. Wreaths and garland adorning the doorways of your neighbors. And when the snow falls it blankets everything, making it look like a true Norman Rockwell painting!

Holiday celebrating in the McClelland household always appear to be perfect, at least to our 5 kids! The tree is always up weeks before Christmas and decorated beautifully. Cookies are always made and ready to be decorated when they get home from school on the afternoon when holiday break begins. Cookie night with their friends (which includes about 10+ extra boys!) is always a fabulously good time for them. And when our entire family comes over to celebrate Christmas Day, dinner always looks gorgeous and ready to be devoured! Truly… in the eyes of my kids, we’re rocking it like crazy!

I’m going to state the obvious right now for you, being a mom around the holidays can be (in a word) chaotic!

Here’s the reality of it all…

Our tree? It’s fake. As much as we’ve always wanted a real tree and wanted to hike into the woods to find that “perfect” one, with 5 kids we opted against it years ago! There were pine needles all over our floor and with the boys being all so little, we were scared they would put the needles in their mouths! And! I’ll never forget the year when we DID get a real tree, it was when our oldest son William was 15 months old. He got a needle from the tree in his diaper and we didn’t know it! He was crying like crazy for about 30 minutes and nothing would soothe him. I finally decided to try a warm bath and low and behold, I realized he had a pine needle in his diaper! I felt so bad! And so… that was it on the “real” tree! It’s been fake ever since! Only problem is we never get that yummy pine smell from a real tree, so it never really feels like a true festive tree.

My cookies that I make for the kids to decorate when they get home from school? Yeah. I’ve burnt about a dozen or so before they look about right! I’m NOT good in the kitchen at all and if you’ve read my blog regularly you know this truth! I’m bad with even a very basic cookie recipe and it always makes my husband laugh. Usually I have to try 2 or 3 times before I get the cookies “right,” and even then… they’re either a little overcooked or a little undercooked. Thankfully my kids don’t have to see the mess beforehand!

Cookie night with friends? All I can say is this, including my own sons, there’s usually about 15 boys in my house. Yup. You have the right, 15 boys! And before we decorate the masses of cookies, they’re usually running around outside so they come in all sweaty and smelly! LOL! Welcome to my world!

And dinner on Christmas Day? Let’s just put it this way… you can tell what I made and what my husband (the foodie) made! I think the fire alarm goes off every Christmas Day while I’m cooking!

But you know what?? I STILL have a good holiday and my house still gives off the festive smell of the holidays thanks to Febreze!!

First off… just having a large family, Febreze is and has always been a staple in my home! It’s just an essential to make sure my home always smells good for us and anyone coming over to visit! For the holidays, Febreze REALLY has me covered (literally and figuratively) with their Febreze candle in Fresh Pressed Apple and their Febreze AIR in Fresh Twist Cranberry. I will literally have the candle burning in my kitchen and dining room space throughout November and December! The Fresh Pressed Apple smell is so inviting and yummy and delicious! It makes you just feel HOME and it hides any smell of burnt cookies or dinner and lots of teen boys!! The best thing is that nobody knows “what just happened” in the kitchen!!

And my Febreze AIR in Fresh Twist Cranberry? Ahhhh…. it instantly eliminates any lingering odors in my home! I spray in my basement where the kids hangout, in the bathrooms where anyone might “hangout” and in my living room where we enjoy our guests. It leaves my home smelling like I spent all day cleaning (and if anyone asks, that’s exactly what I did!). It’s just easy to have tools on hand to make my house smell good and add to the feeling of comfort.

As I said, the holidays aren’t the easiest for me… they definitely are chaotic and can be stressful, I love that I have products I can rely on to help make it all seem (like my kids think) PERFECT!

*Check out my Facebook LIVE where I unbox my Febreze Holiday #BreatheHappy Box!

Disclosure: This is a sponsored posting with Febreze. All opinions are 100% my own.