It’s beginning to smell a lot like Christmas.

LATHER
Beautanical Handmade Soaps
What: Sarah Dean’s organic scrubbers ($7 each) — free of artificial fragrances and colors — somehow manage to look and smell luxurious.
Why: Organic peppermint soap with a swirl of French green clay is heaven in a hand bar.
When: You need to clean up your act.
Where: Online at etsy.com.

LAUGH
Short Stories Live: a Rogue’s Christmas
What: Local notables read excerpts from unconventional Christmas tales like John Cheever’s Christmas Is a Sad Season for the Poor and P.G. Wodehouse’s Another Christmas Carol.
Why: Hear from actor and playwright Frank Corrado, historian and photographer Paul Dorpat, and actor Jean Sherrard.
When: Sun., 4-6 p.m.
Where: Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave. (206-652-4255). Tickets online ($10-$13) at brownpapertickets.com or at the door ($13-$15).

STUFF
Anything but Stockings
What: Skip the sock and fill something they’ll actually use, like a handsome tool bag for your dandy handyman or a modular planter for your green-thumbing mom.
Why: Five presents hidden inside another earn you the No. 1 gift-giving spot.
When: Before Christmas Eve (quickly) rolls around.
Where: Online at dailycandy.com.

SUP
Belle Clementine Opens
What: David Sanford’s locally focused Ballard restaurant launches dinner service tonight.
Why: The changing menu that includes roasted Stokesberry chickens, rice with chanterelles, and scarlet nantes carrots from Local Roots roasted with Ballard honey and DuChilly hazelnuts.
When: Seatings, Thurs.-Sat., 7 p.m.
Where: 5451 Leary Ave. NW. Reservations (required) to 206-257-5761.

SIP
Twelve Days of Cocktails
What: Ease into holiday boozing with daily custom cocktails at Boka Kitchen + Bar.
Why: Three French Hens (Pernod pastis, orange juice, and soda) and Twelve Drummers Drumming (apple brandy, Edmond Briottet, crema de cassis, and champagne).
When: Thru Dec. 24.
Where: 1010 First Ave. (206-357-9000).

Photo: Courtesy of Sarah Dean