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Gift List and Festive Winter Cocktails

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A cocktail done right can really show your guests that you care.

Danny Meyer

I’m done my Christmas shopping. I’m not bragging. I’m just saying. I’m done. It feels good to be done! This year we bought some stuff online, some stuff downtown, some stuff secondhand and some of our gifts are handmade. HBear found an app that allowed us to all share our wish lists with each other so minus a few surprise gifts, we followed their lists… or at least the practical items on the list 😂. These are a few of those items that we are most excited for the Kids to open in… 2 weeks!!! All these items are from Amazon and use my affiliated link. Even if you don’t buy these exact gifts, anything you buy through my link will give me a small commission, which helps me continue to help provide for my family since working with MS has been such a struggle. Thank you for helping me out in this small but HUGE way 💛.


Math Fidget Popper


Weighted Sleep Mask


Packing Cubes


Beads for Friendship Bracelets


Set of 80 Dual Tip Markers

Check out How Was Your Week, Honey? Ep.358: Santa’s Panties HERE! This week, we get together after an evening at a local winery. Topics: Amazon, Xmas beer, gifts, hair cuts, friendship bracelets, ice hotels, the neurologist, & family music.

It is cocktail season! Actually, in our house it’s always cocktail season 😂. Ninja likes to fix a drink for us once a week for our podcast. Over the past few weeks we have have been taste testing different holiday drinks so that you can sip, serve, and savour these festive holiday cocktails.


The key to a delicious cocktail is in the details, starting with the simple syrup. Simple syrup is just that, simple to make, equal parts sugar and water. It’s what you add to it that elevates a drink to cocktail stardom. Ninja made 3 simple syrups to add to our festive sippers, Maple Brown Sugar Simple Syrup, Pear & Ginger Simple Syrup, and Spiced Simple Syrup. Using these and different types of liquors, we made 9 fantastic cocktails, perfect for the Holiday Season! Each recipe makes 2 cocktails, enjoy!

***Tip: when it comes to adding fresh herb garnish like rosemary, sage or thyme, it’s best to slap the sprigs as they lay flat in the palm of your hand before serving. This will open up the leaves and bring forth the aroma for a fuller bouquet of flavour! -Ninja

Maple Brown Sugar Simple Syrup

1 cup water
1 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 cup maple syrup



Add water, brown sugar and maple syrup to saucepan. Bring to a boil and take off heat. Once sugar is dissolved, then put it into a jar with a lid and cool in fridge.


Pear & Ginger Simple Syrup

1 cup water
1/2 cup ginger, grated
1 pear, sliced
5 tablespoons sugar

Boil water. When boiling, reduce to a simmer. Add pear slices and ginger and let simmer for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, mash pears with a fork and add sugar. Simmer for 5 more minutes. Strain and store in fridge.

Spiced Simple Syrup

½ cup sugar
½ cup water
2 cinnamon sticks, whole
2 whole cloves, whole
2 star anise, whole
1 teaspoon vanilla


In a small saucepan combine the sugar, water, cinnamon sticks, cloves, anise and vanilla.

Bring the simple syrup to a boil and continue boiling until the sugar is dissolved. Once the sugar is dissolved, remove the syrup from the stove but keep the spices in the syrup to allow them infuse for 10 minutes while the syrup is cooling.

Remove the spices from the syrup and pour the syrup in a jar and store in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Jack Frost

honey for rimming glasses
mixture of blue and white sugar, for rimming glasses
8 cups ice
1 cup pineapple juice
1 1/2 oz blue curacao
1 1/2 oz Malibu Rum
1/2 cup milk



Rim the glasses: Pour a thin layer of honey onto a plate and dip the rims, then dip in sugar mixture.


In a blender, blend ice, pineapple juice, blue curacao, Malibu and milk until desired consistency is reached. Pour into glasses and serve immediately.

Spiced Cranberry Paloma

4 oz cranberry juice
2 oz grapefruit juice
2 oz lime juice
3 oz Spiced Simple Syrup (recipe above)
4 ounces tequila
tonic water
ice
Garnish: a sprig of sage

Using a cocktail shaker, combine the cranberry juice, grapefruit juice, lime juice, simple syrup and tequila and shake.


Fill the glass with ice, pour the cocktail in, and top off the remainder of the glass with sparkling water. Garnish with a sprig of rosemary.


Pear & Ginger Sparkler

2 oz Pear & Ginger Simple Syrup (recipe above)
2 oz St. Germain
2 oz lemon juice
12 oz prosecco
1 cup ice
1 pear, thinly sliced

Add ice, simple syrup, St. Germain, and lemon juice to a cocktail shaker. Shake for at least 30 seconds. Pour into a glass and top with prosecco. Garnish with pear slices.


Winter Old Fashioned

4 oz bourbon
2 oz Maple Brown Sugar Simple Syrup (recipe above)
5-6 dashes angostura bitters
2 large ice cube
2 cinnamon sticks
2 orange twist

Put large ice cube into whiskey glass.

Add bitters to glass.

Then add simple syrup and bourbon to glass and stir ingredients. Add cinnamon stick to garnish.


Christmas White Russian


2 ounces vodka
2 ounces Kahlua
1 ounce espresso
2 ounces Spiced Simple Syrup (recipe above)
3 ounces milk
chocolate sauce for the rim

Rim your glass with chocolate sauce.


Fill your glass with ice. Add the vodka, Kahlua, espresso, and syrup. Stir. Add the milk and stir to combine. Garnish with cinnamon.

Eggnog Cocktail


2 ounce Amaretto
2 ounce vodka
6 ounces eggnog
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of cinnamon
Caramel sauce, for rimming the glass

Rim a cocktail glass with caramel sauce.

Shake the eggnog, Amaretto, vodka, nutmeg and cinnamon together in a shaker filled halfway with ice.

Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with more cinnamon if desired.


Mistletoe Margarita

4 ounces tequila
1 ounce Cointreau
1 ounce Grand Marnier
4 ounces white cranberry juice
2 ounces lime juice
1 ounce simple syrup
Garnish 8 cranberries, 2 sprigs rosemary



Fill a cocktail shaker halfway with ice.

Add tequila, orange liqueur, Grand Marnier, white cranberry juice, lime juice and simple syrup.

Add fresh ice to the margarita glasses.

Cap the cocktail shaker and shake for at least 15 seconds.

Divide and strain the liquid between the two glasses. You can also divide the ice from the shaker between the two glasses.
Add the cranberries to the two glasses and put a sprig of rosemary in both glasses.



Holly Jolly Citrus Cocktail

3 oz vodka
1 oz St. Germain
4 oz fresh squeezed clementine juice
2 oz ginger beer
2 fresh thyme sprigs
Arils from 1 pomegranate


In a shaker, combine the vodka, elderflower liquor (if using), and clementine juice. Shake well.


Fill 2 rocks glasses with ice, and evenly divide shaker contents.  Top off with ginger beer, and add pomegranate arils. Serve garnished with thyme or mint.

Santa Panties


2 oz grenadine
1 oz Kahlua
1 oz Rumchata


In a tall shot glass, add the grenadine. Using a spoon, insert the spoon at an angle to pour a thin line of Kahlua on top the grenadine. Using the spoon again, pour the Rumchata down the spoon to layer it onto the drink.




Christmas is in FULL swing in our house! The tree is up, the decorations are out, and the Christmas records are spinning. We enjoyed HBear’s jazz band Christmas concert, the annual Toys for Tots Breakfast, and I got a haircut/style to shimmer throughout the holidays! I finally got the Christmas calendars even though they look like they went through the mail ringer 😂 and SBean started making friendship bracelets to collect money for new library chairs. I had a HORRENDOUS neurology appoint (will discuss once I fully process) and then Ninja and I went for a flight of beer at Barn Owl Brewing. Our Activity Calendar told us to build a festive fort, so we did! We received a lovely Xmas card from our AbBesties, had a family dinner and movie night in the fort and then the next day Ninja and I went on a double date with my Dad and J to Haywire Winery while the Kids tried out the new Fresh Slice in town. SBean had her 1st gymnastics competition of the season. It didn’t turn out the way she had hoped. She got used to placing pretty high last year but this she moved up a level. The competition is stiff and she now realizes she is going to have to work harder to reach her goals. It was a tough lesson. After the competition, Ninja, Grandma and Grandpa took her to Earls for dinner to celebrate her courage to compete. Proud of you Kiddo, keep practicing and working hard 💛.











    2 thoughts on “Gift List and Festive Winter Cocktails”

    1. Slabs

      Thank you so much for visiting and sharing your links with us at SSPS #291. See you again on Monday. January 8th, 2024
      What a delightful and handy list of gifts and not to mention the awesome drinks you have here

      Reply

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