Merry Christmas

From our family to yours.

My favorite Christmas drink

One of the many Christmas memories I have from my childhood is the hot drink that my Mom used to make for us.  There was nothing better than being outside playing in the snow then coming in and finding a hot mug of Mom's special drink for me.  To this day I still look forward to making it and wrapping up in a warm blanket with my mug of hot punch.  I thought I would share in case anyone wanted to try it:

Hot Punch

1 lg. can Pineapple Juice (46oz)
1- 12oz can frozen Orange Juice concentrate
1 cup lemon juice
4 to 5 cups water
1/4 tsp. cloves
several cinnamon sticks

Mix together & simmer for 45 minutes.  Or you can simmer in crock pot on low.  Great for parties.

Our Simplified Christmas

Because of some decisions that we made earlier this summer we have had to really simplify Christmas this year.  This would be the extent of our Christmas decorations around the house - these trees stay up all year but they just got a little dressed up for the holiday.

Needless to say it definitely does not look or feel like Christmas around here.  We don't even have stockings to hang this year.  Instead we will be using gift bags decorated with our initials.  I do miss having the Nativity set up this year since that always seems to help remind us of the true meaning of the season.

Hopefully the decisions made this year will make it easier for us next year.  Some know of those decisions and some do not.  Those decisions caused us to put alot of stuff in a storage container this past summer- 540 miles away.  That would be why we have simplified this year - no possible way to get to my stuff right now.

May the joy of the holiday season be with those you love now and throughout the next year.

Merry Christmas.