Fast Food Friday: Poinsettia Sipper

This is a drink that my husband's family has long made at this time of year, and it is now a favorite with my family as well. I'm generally a fan of hot mulled beverages, and this makes a tasty alternative to egg nog or hot chocolate. Since it's appropriate for fasting, it's nice to serve for the Feast of St. Nicholas. We like to drink it as we decorate our Christmas tree, and it would be great in a thermos for looking at Christmas lights.

Apparently the recipe was originally published in Cooking Light, but this is our own slight variation, which James and I feel we have perfected over the past several years. We frequently double or triple the quantities, but this amount is works for just a few people. We often mix up a batch on Sunday afternoons this time of year, and it makes the house smell wonderful.

Poinsettia Sipper
2 cups water
2 cups apple juice
2 cups cranberry juice blend (I prefer 100% juice blends, not cranberry cocktail. Cranberry Pomegranate blends are my favorite.)
2 Tbs. sugar (optional)
2 cinnamon sticks
4 whole cloves
The juice of one clementine (2 Tbs. orange juice can be substituted, but freshly squeezed is preferred)

Stir together all the ingredients in a pan over medium heat until sugar dissolves (if using) Simmer for 20-30 minutes, and serve when it smells lovely. Note that if you double the recipe there is no need to add more cinnamon sticks.

I have had a gift of some extra free time today. This was the view outside the window a little while ago, and the snow continues. The library where I work closed early, so I got to come home at 12:30. I am not a great lover of snow, but I can appreciate its beauty as long as I don't have to go out in it. For one thing, I don't like going out in the cold and wet, but for another, going out in it spoils the illusion of the snow's pristine beauty. When we track through it we drag up the muck and dirt underneath it. Having celebrated Theophany this week, I've been thinking about the snow in an allegorical fashion. The whole world seems to be wrapped in a white baptismal garment, one actually made up of water itself. Although the garment is inevitably sullied, it will be cleansed and renewed with another snowfall or will melt away to bring forth new life in the spring, so it seems to be a beautiful illustration of the sanctification of the waters.

Now that Theophany is past, we will be putting away our Christmas decorations over the next few days, so I thought I'd post pictures of ours so I can enjoy them virtually once they're packed away, and to help me remember next year what I did. Below is our little pencil Christmas tree, that we bought when we were first married and living in a tiny apartment. It was perfect for us then, and is small enough to fit in our entry way now. The tree skirt is tulle leftover from wedding decorations.


Green is my favorite color. I have a green car, a green coat, green purses, plenty of green clothes, and this green wall in our dining area and kitchen. One of the things I love about the green wall is that it looks so cheery with the red Christmas decorations.

It's about 15 degrees outside right now, so I suspect that very soon the wood you see in this picture will be burning away in the fireplace. You can also see our Nativity set which is on top of the TV cabinet reflected in this mirror. My brother gave it to us as a Christmas gift the first year we were married, and the cave belonged to my mother-in-law, and might be older than I am.


And this is the first time in several years that we've had a real Christmas tree. Last year we were traveling for most of Christmas, so we didn't get one, and for the few years before that we were in an apartment. James surprised me by picking it up from a tree farm here in Indiana, and it's been lovely. We're going to be a little sad to take it down.


So one more time, to those of you celebrating Christmas today on the Old Calendar, "Christ is Born! Glorify Him!"

Christ is born! Glorify Him!

I hope everyone is enjoying Christmas as much as I am so far. After being in a bit of a winter funk this year, it has been wonderful to celebrate the joy of our Lord's incarnation and spend time with family. We are now smack dab in the middle of the twelve days of Christmas, and we are still firmly in the throws of celebration at our house. We have spent time with my family in Southern Indiana and Cincinnati and as well as a day with James' family in Ohio. Today his parents and sister will be arriving to spend several days.

I have been on vacation since Christmas Eve and don't go back to work till the 4th. It's lovely to have most of the Afterfeast of the Nativity off of work. I generally don't have as much time off and find it kind of sad to feel like the holiday is done well before Theophany. It's easy to feel a bit robbed of the feast when the radio stops playing Christmas music on the 26th, and all the Christmas decorations disappear by January 1st. (It must feel even more off kilter for those on the old calendar.) This year I'm looking forward to enjoying several more days of delicious holiday food, games, movies, hanging out with family and several more chances to attend Holy Liturgy in the next week.

Pascha is far and away my favorite holiday, but I love all the family time at Christmas. The Nativity of the Lord is also special at our house because we were Chrismated three years ago on December 23. It both seems like a lifetime ago and also just a blink of an eye. This year we were blessed to attend the Chrismations of some friends of ours the weekend before the Nativity, which was a beautiful reminder for us of our own Christmation. Blessed feast to everyone!