Hot Cocoa Bar

Hello, all! Hope you had a fabulous holiday season!! I am slowly sorting through photos from parties, and working on posts. Christmas morning, we had my parents and my father-in-law over to open presents with the girls. We have a rule in our house (established by my parents when I was growing up): you do not run in at 6am and wake your parents up to open presents. When my brother and I were younger, it was the worst rule ever. However, now that we are older, and know the family Christmas party is a Polish explosion of Christmas spirit (those spirits being rum chata, fireball, and mason jars full of moon shine, I understand my patents wanting to sleep off the hangover! So, the way Christmas went down in our house was: kids wake up, and can open stockings. Parents woke up around 9, drank a cup (or two) of coffee, and THEN presents could happen.

So, that’s what Peyton did. Woke up, tore open her stocking, then came in around 8 to tell me Santa had come. She showed me piece by piece what was in it. This is the first year she really got the idea of Santa coming down the chimney. She even told me she heard jingle bells at night – adorable.

I spent the morning in the kitchen making these beauties for David, my brother (who, sadly, is moving out next month!), and Peyton:

Followed by muffins for when the grandparents all arrived:

Christmas Jammies here

My piece de resistance for Christmas morning was the hot coca bar. I had been collecting goodies and working on ideas for the past few weeks, and couldn’t be happier with the result. It might have become out own mini tradition!

The recipe couldn’t have been easier. I brought 3/4 cup of sugar, 3/4 cup of cocoa powder, 2 cups of water, and a pinch of salt to a boil in a sauce pan. I let it boil until the sugar had completely dissolved. I poured the mixture into our crock pot, and added a splash of vanilla extract, a few shakes of cinnamon, and 8 cups of milk. I turned the crock pot on low, and let that go for 2 hours. Then, we served it up in mason jar mugs, and everyone picked their toppings.

Ours included: peppermint marshmallows, candy cane spoons (which P and I dipped in dark chocolate and sprinkles earlier that week), mini chocolate chip cookies, peppermint patties, snowflake marshmallows, mini gingerbread houses, chocolate chips, crushed up Andes Mints, and a few other goodies I found at our grocery store! Adult add-ons included peppermint kahlua and rum chata!

We all had fun “customizing” out hot cocoa, and sipping while opening presents and watching Christmas Vacation. Next year, I might need to invest in moose mugs 😉

Stay tuned for more Christmas fun!