Holiday Drinks

This first one comes from Sindee. If you follow the link there are plenty of recipes.
1. Mulled Cider,






These come from Lara

2. Eggnog w/whiskey preferably with Jack Black



3. Irish Coffee
Jameson Irish Whiskey, Kahalua, topped with whipped cream. And a dusting of nutmeg on top.






4. Godiva Peppermint Patty
Ingredients:
1/2 cup Hot chocolate
1 shot Peppermint schnapps
1 shot Godiva liqueur
Mixing instructions:
Pour 1/2 cup Hot Cocoa into a Brandy Snifter. Add 1 shot of Peppermint Schnapps. Add 1 shot of Godiva. Stir. Top with Whip Cream.

5. Hot Chocolate with Peppermint Scnapps

6. Polar Bear
We also call this a Girl Scout Cookie.
Ingredients:
1/2 oz Creme de Cacao
1/2 oz Peppermint schnapps or creme de menthe

7. Candy Cane
Ingredients:
3/4 oz Peppermint schnapps
3/4 oz Creme de Cacao
1/4 oz Grenadine
Half-and-half
7-Up
Mixing instructions:
In highball glass filled with ice, combine peppermint schnapps, white creme de cacao & grenadine. Fill glass with half-and-half. Top with 7-up. Garnish with a small candycane. Great for the Holidays!

These from Natasha

8. Creme de vie
One can condensed milk
One can rum (Bacardi White) Cheesy
one can simple sugar syrup (**)

(**)using the empty condensed milk can, mix:
Two cans white sugar
one can water
lemon rind
cinnamon stick
Boil until it becomes a syrup. Let cool and discard cinnamon stick and lemon rinds.
Mix all ingredients in a bottle along with two egg yolks (whipped) and two or three large sticks of cinnamon.
Refrigerate for two or three days and it is ready to drink.
WARNING: It is SWEET and it can be habit forming (you just can't put it down). Serve in shot glasses and sip. It is good anytime.

9. Glühwein

A 750ml bottle of inexpensive dry red wine (no need to splash out on something expensive, but it should be drinkable. I usually just use whatever red wine is on sale at the supermarket.)
2/3 cup of raw cane sugar or white sugar, or non-artificial sweetener of your choice
Juice and peel of one small lemon
2 cardamon pods
4 cloves
2 bay leaves
2 cinnamon sticks
Put everything in a heavy bottomed pan. Stir to melt the sugar. Heat the mixture over low heat, and leave for about an hour - it should never boil, just sort of seethe.
Serve in small mugs (straining out the peel and spices), with optional shot of brandy, kirsch or other liqueur.
Notes: Increase the amount proportionately to serve more people. Vary the sweetener to change the taste - honey is interesting, as is dark brown sugar or molasses.

This one from Alice

10. Russian Holiday
Eggnog
kahlua

From Chris

11. Coffee flavored Mint Julep

From Moi

12. Kahlua
13. Amaretto Sour

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

Alice Audrey
Harris Channing
bettythegeek
Don't make me get the flying monkeys!
Buck Naked Politics
I'll add more...

As you know I try to participate with Thirteen Thursday. I have a lot of fun doing it. This Thursday I'd like to post holiday drinks. The problem is, besides eggnog, which I can't stand, I don't know any.

So please, if you could be so kind as to list your favorites. I'd be ever grateful.

I'm gonna make this easy and post a link that has tons of ideas.

Family Fun

I was going to do holiday crafts or holiday drinks. But for some reason I thought today was Wednesday. So please forgive me. I'll post thirteen holiday crafts tomorrow, if you're willing to come back.

Things I forgot...

1. Today is Thursday
2. Today is trash day (the cans are overflowing)
3. Dh's birthday (okay, I didn't quite forget, but I need to keep reminding myself)
4. Fanlit Writing challenge is due Saturday (I haven't started yet)
5. Ice melt
6. To eat this morning (If I don't hurry with this post it could be disastrous)
7. To put moola in the bank.
8. To start dinner (The downside of crockpot cooking, you should start early)
9. To return a phone call last night
10. I think I'll conveniently forget to bake cookies today.
11. To look for another TT blogger to add to my list.
12. Thirteen Thursday
13. The thirteenth thing I was suppose to write down.

Maybe I should go back to bed

Is anyone else as forgetful as me?






Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

Alice Audrey
Harris Channing
bettythegeek
Don't make me get the flying monkeys!
Buck Naked Politics
I'll add more...

I thought I'd share with you this side of the Midwest chaos.

Then there is this side, which is hard to see.



If you look on the right hand side you'll see the broken limb. If you look real close above our fence, that's our power line. Several more branches have fallen on the same line since I've taken these pictures, the fence and our neighbor's are covered with broken limbs. Amazingly we still have power, which is more than many in our area. Oops, the lights are flickering, so I may have typed too soon. We will see.:)

I have found myself standing outside in the freezing rain mesmerized by the whole thing. It's beautiful, even if it is hazardous. As I type this tree branches are falling all over. I'm sure by the time we get up in the morning most of our trees will be pretty much gone.




I tried to post a video but obviously it's something that I'm not sure how to do. Maybe another day.

There's been a discussion over at Fanlit Forever. What's odd is that I had asked two of my cp's if something was wrong with me. You see, I'm tired of my story. Well not the whole thing, but the first three chapters. I don't want to see them again. And see them again I will-many times over.

As it turns out, I may not be the only one who gets sick of their WIP's by the time it's all said and done. So what about you? Do you get sick of your story before all those revisions are done?

This week in the news a few cool things have been found beneath the sands of time.

Jerusalem

London

Romance Roundtable

Don't miss The Art of Courtly Love.

Thirteen Christmas Movies. These are in no particular order and there are way more than thirteen that are on my list. Enjoy! Feel free to add your own list in the comment section.


1. Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas

2. Ernest Saves Christmas

3. Home Alone

4. Charlie Brown Christmas

5. It's a Wonderful Life

6. Miracle on 34th Street

7. Frosty the Snowman

8. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

9. Die Hard

10. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

11. Scrooge

12. How the Grinch Stole Christmas

13. The Last Holiday




Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

Alice Audrey
Harris Channing
bettythegeek
Don't make me get the flying monkeys!
Buck Naked Politics
I'll add more...

Over at Fanlit Forever we are getting back into the swing of our writing challenges. Our Holiday Writing Challenge is due December 15th. Go on over and check it out.

This is the first year that I'm really looking forward to the holidays. But you know what? I have no inspiration for a story. None. Nadda.

Click here for how the game works.

Hope to see some new faces.

My kids hate to read. They don't like being read to either. But, I didn't give them a choice in this. I wanted to start with something that grabbed their attention. Something that would have them begging for me to turn the pages.

Ah, what did I pick? No, it wasn't HP. Redwall. Yes, Redwall. And I couldn't have chosen better.

When Redwall came out I was in high school. I had never even heard of it, not until another parent suggested it a few years back.

It will take forever for us to get through the series, but, I think it will be worth while.

My hope is that soon my children will be inspired by the world of Redwall and their creative minds will be jump started. I can't wait to see their muses grow and mature.

For now, I'll leave you with the link to Redwall's blurb. Reading the blurb one can clearly imagine an agent or editor having a flashbulb moment. It doesn't matter that it is more than a few paragraphs long. It grabs your attention. It says, "You can't pass this one by. If you do you're an idiot."

Top o'the mornin' ta ya.

Something I like to do is to read the Strange News section, whether it is in the local paper or on the Internet.

I thought you all might find this one interesting. Especially Alice.

Irish Beer Bandit