every year for the first of Advent Pappa makes his traditional Swedish Glögg (pronounced glug)! it’s so warm and cozy and relaxes every stress you may have! 🙂
recipe:
you take a bunch of wine and pour out a bit… then you put in cinnamon sticks, star anise, cloves, cardamon, fresh ginger, sugar, lemon zest, orange zest… maybe a vanilla bean… port wine, you have to make sure you have extra bottles so that you have room… then every day you flip around the bottles about twice a day… then on day three it’s ready for warming (NEVER boil!)and you serve with chopped almonds (not salty ones) and raisins… and you take a spoon while you drink it and eat the bits! mmmmm! serve with Swedish Ginger Thin cookies (Anna’s) or make your own!
we have had lots of friends and family over enjoying the warm cozy goodness.. the children have played together… the Christmas tree has glowed so lovely! I truly love this time of year… I love how the temperature drops a bit.. we wear cozy sweaters… stay inside a little.. sleep a bit longer… and enjoy each other!
so many traditions… lighting candles… singing songs…
I made a promise to myself this holiday season that I would NOT get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the stresses of the season… I would enjoy my family and spend our time together…
I’m not going to lie… we were so busy with our business but I didn’t let it get to me… I focused at work so that our spare time would be enjoyable… I perfected my calender and scheduled moments…
I shopped at small stores… and online on small businesses as best as I could… I felt so good about that… I spent one day at the post office… for maybe 15 minutes… we did so many things that will fade into memories… and I truly am so happy that it was a nice and simple holiday season…..
Merry Christmas to each and every one of you… I wish you a simple Christmas full of a thousand kisses and giggles!