Some Christmas celebration essentials

 

Its so funny to me how some things just catch on with my kiddos. Taken Martinelli's sparkling apple cider. I do not recall when we first cracked open a bottle but for some years now, they have declared it to be a Christmas must have. They will ask, at some point, whether I have found any. It is not always so easy to find. 

They want to sip it while they watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.  They want it to be part of either a Christmas tea party, lunch or dinner, or all of the above.

Then, there's New Year's. Both at midnight and with black eyed peas the next day, they would have cider.

We clove oranges and sometimes apples and slice them to serve in the cider. This year we used clementines. The grandbaby likes cherry juice and sometimes cherries and grenadine in hers, as she says it reminds her of gingerale and that's how she likes to drink gingerale. (She doesn't know to call that particular beverage a Shirley Temple or even who Shirley Temple is, though that is about to change.)

White cheese ball puffs, marketed as "Snow Balls" are a recent big hit. The baby daughter said she "needed
 these to make merry. This means, to snack on while we watch old home movies or Christmas movies.

Then there are the cheese apples. They'll require a blog post all of their own.