It’s probably not the most conventional way to start a Monday morning admittedly, but I figured that all the normal rules were out of the window in the week before the week before Christmas. I mean it was a mere seven days ago that the Rock My Ltd team were all gathered around a table sipping prosecco at 11am at our Christmas party; is that even allowed?
Any how it got me to thinking about Christmas dinner. Seeing as we won’t be hosting Christmas this year (sob! More on the house updates in the New Year. PROMISE!) I’ve been given the honourable task of sorting libations for lunch at my mum’s instead. I’m not going to lie, it’s actually right up my street. If you can’t indulge in bubbles and cocktails at Christmas then when can you?
When we were younger we were allowed a cheeky Bucks Fizz on Christmas Day morning. I’ve since been told that whereas we thought we had a bit of champagne in our orange juice, it was actually fizzy water instead and it wasn’t until much older that we were allowed the ‘hard stuff’. The placebo affect is real people! We actually thought we were drunk at ten years old! So for me it’s not Christmas without some Bucks Fizz to start us off although it’s not my favourite Christmas tipple by any stretch of the imagination.
So to whom does that honour go? Well actually I don’t know. I feel as if I should have a Christmas tipple of choice, something that I can drink and think ahhhhh Christmas…I mean it seems as if everyone else does. I adore Champagne/Prosecco (who doesn’t?!) and we always have a glass or three with lunch but I can easily do this at ANY time of the year. Bubbles aren’t strictly a Crimbo drink are they?
One of my sisters favours a port and lemon (old before her time springs to mind) on Christmas Day but she won’t drink it at any other time of year and a friend of mine buys in multiple bottles of Baileys since apparently it’s THE festive drink plus Santa likes it too…or so I’m told. Even my step-dad talks wistfully about the snowballs he used to drink when he was much younger though he doesn’t touch them now.
I contemplated making an Espresso Martini my tipple of choice since I’m seriously considering purchasing a Nespresso Pixie for Ste for Christmas as mentioned in this post a couple of weeks ago about Christmas gift ideas for boys. But then I realised I wouldn’t be able to drink one until December and I really really like them. So that idea was rejected too.
My dreams of walking in with a tray of beautiful cocktails at Christmas dinner much like the ones in the header image at the top (which incidentally is from the yet to be released Rock My Wedding book which you can pre-order now) are slowly crumbling to dust.
So what to choose? And do you even get to choose it anyway or is it a gradual process where a one-off special experience becomes a Christmas tradition? A kind of oh-now-I’m-drinking-this-it-really-feels-like-Christmas situation. We have mince pies and Christmas pud and turkey with all the trimmings so why do the same courtesies not extend to the liquid world…well mine anyway.
So this is where I ask for your help and recommendations. Do any of you have a special Christmas tipple? Can you inspire me in my quest for the perfect festive drink…I probably should mention that I absolutely detest mulled wine or any variation on that theme. Who said I was fussy anyway??
Please share all your suggestions in the comments box below…I’m eagerly awaiting your thoughts…
What about (homemade) sloe gin in your prosecco? Or if you want to up the Christmas ante, a gingerbread cocktail? Has to be some recipes on Pinterest? It’s a fun task to find the perfect drink!
My sister actually suggested sloe gin Tracey and I’d really love to grow Sloes in my garden once we move in so this could be a strong contender! I love gingerbread too *runs off to Pinterest to find a recipe*
I stumbled upon a Christmas sangria recipe on Pinterest a few years ago. It has Rosemary and cranberries for the Christmas factor and a load of booze to please a crowd, and it’s been my welcome drink of choice ever since.
Sangria comes under the red/mulled wine category for me Laura. No can do. Reminds me of a particularly alcoholic night out when I was 18 that left me with a 2 day hangover and some cringeworthy memories…
Ahhh you see Lolly this is where you are wrong! This is made with white wine (or prosecco) and is FABULOUS! Your 18 year old self has a lot to answer for though…???
Oh it was HORRIFIC. That’s a post for another day….
We have ‘Poinsettia’ cocktails of prosecco, cranberry juice and cointreau for breakfast on christmas morning and during present opening.
Classic aperitif such as a negroni before lunch then wines matches to each course with lunch. Then single malt, with just a dash of water for the evening relaxing!
Rachel I’m in awe of your dedication to specific drinks at each stage of the day. I feel like such a novice! Something to be rectified immediately. I particularly love the sound of the Poinsettia cocktails…
Its a Nigella recipe and very simple! Glad for the lack of judgement on drinking at 7am…my MiL always makes a big fuss of how she can’t possibly so early in a very disapproving manner!
I love having “Twinkles” at Christmas – introduced to us by my sister. Champagne / prosecco, vodka and elderflower cordial garnished with lemon or orange peel! My brother in law was busy cooking Christmas dinner in the kitchen one year and said one minute we were fine and then the next he found us all drunk on Twinkles!
Twinkles are lethal Karen! I’ve had a merry night out on them too although I found them very summery. Perhaps I need to adjust my thinking for Christmas…
Most drinks are probably too good to just keep for Christmas. I really like the idea of Christmas Sangria and Twinkles. I was going to play it safe at our mini Christmas party with some champagne, mulled wine and non alcoholic mulled wine for me – which is probably the stuff of your nightmares but fancy trying out the sangria now.
You’re right Kat, tis the stuff of my nightmares but I know I’m probably the exception rather than the rule. I like the idea of mulled wine but the taste is just wrong. And it’s hot?! Hot wine is just wrong 😉
It’s not a drink for around the table but I love hot chocolate with baileys at Christmas. I start the day with a bucks fizz though!
Perhaps a drink to finish the day with though Claire? Sounds lovely xx
Bucks fizz made with satsumas will be the welcome drink for my Christmas Eve party.. I could take one now to be honest..
So refreshing isn’t it Jennifer….I wouldn’t mind one either x
We have a lot of commitment to the cause when it comes to drinking too – Bucks Fizz with breakfast, champagne with presents, matched white with the starter (seafood), matched red with the main (venison), dessert wine and Port with pudding/cheese. But we also like to entertain over Christmas, so while I’ll happily drink Baileys while wrapping (or mulled wine in bed, which was a new low I sank to last night…) I do like a prosecco cocktail Mr H makes – of a splash of amaretto, pineapple juice to half the glass then topped off with prosecco. Extremely drinkable and not quite as lethal as sloe gin!
Nigella’S Christmas book has a whole section on cocktails too, if you so fancied.
Hmmmm I’m liking the sound of Mr H’s cocktail Sara. Amaretto is definitely a Christmassy taste for me so I wonder if this could be THE ONE.
By the way your comment about the ‘new low’ made me laugh lots.
I was tired, the kids were in bed, and I wanted to snuggle up – but it’s NEARLY CHRISTMAS so I wasn’t going to give up the right to my mug of mulled wine. So I had a lovely pjs-bed-mulled wine-Netflix hour. It was very hygge, even though it did make my bedroom smell like an alcoholic Santa impersonator had been sleeping there.
CRYING with laughter here.
Oooh might have to steal the amaretto fizz and present wrapping one…usually winter pimms for us with presents but that sounds lovely
We always have Bucks Fizz for breakfast and Kir Royale for pressie opening. However this year I’m going to be 10 weeks pregnant. Last year I was breastfeeding a teeny one. And the year before… pregnant. So I’m now the queen of sober Christmas. I don’t particularly like orange juice so I will have some nice elderflower sparkly drink in a champers glass so I can pretend to he drinking actual champers! M&S do good alcohol free wine too for anyone else not on the actual fizz.
I’m not going to lie Anna…I don’t envy you sober Christmas but amazing news on your new pregnancy. How wonderful! Perhaps you can have a cheeky drink next year instead? Good luck with everything xxx
My beautiful sister makes the most delicious Christmas cocktail with St Germain Elderflower Cocktail, cloudy apple juice and gin topped with a tiny dust of cinnamon! So festive and delicious, we only have it at Christmas (in the *fancy* glasses of course). Living in Aus I will be replicating it this year and pretending I am with them all. Xx
That sounds lush Laura! Anything with gin of course. Glad you have fancy glasses too 😉
Hot buttered rum! My husband discovered this about seven or eight years ago now.
http://www.jamieoliver.com/drinks-tube/recipe/hot-buttered-rum/#0701duXtz5c7Adwg.97
My initial reaction was of disgust as it didn’t sound to my taste at all, however once I begrudgingly tried it,I have to say I became a fan!
Also, after a few years spent living in the US, I did enjoy an eggnog or two. They seem to have it more readily available over there.
Of course snowballs, mulled wine, prosecco and Buck’s Fizz go without saying!
Hot buttered rum sounds like something out of Harry Potter Charlotte! My initial reaction was also a nose wrinkle but if you say it’s worth a go then perhaps it’s something I need to try. Ste loves rum so I reckon he’d be up for it!
Hi, I was wondering if you could tell me where these beautiful champagne glasses are from? I have been looking for ones like these for absolutely ages to no avail and these are simply stunning! Thanks
My mum had a mulled wine bellini last night with dinner and it was fab! Definitely going to try and recreate for our boxing day get together ? http://www.greatbritishchefs.com/recipes/mulled-wine-bellini-recipe
That does look delicious. I bet you could try and recreate it using Lakelands’s mulling syrup, without having to shell out for 20 star anise…
Home made sloe or damson gin for me and my sister, but prosecco or champagne always goes down well too. Loving the sound of some of the cocktails above, particularly the one made by Laura’s sister above with the St Germain elderflower cocktail.
And, can I also ask, as has Katie above, where those beautiful cocktail glasses are from? And what a stunning image that is. Would love a post on beautiful cocktail glasses or drinking glasses generally. Always hard to find gorgeous ones.
Lolly I have to recommend Fireball, it’s cinnamon whiskey. Delicious with lots of ice! My husband once brought me some for my birthday (feb) as I like it so much but we both agreed it was wrong to drink any other time of the year! xx (should mention Fireball was recommended by our neighbour as his drink of choice in his uni bar so not the classiest choice but yummy all the same ?) xx