Christmas officially arrived in full swing this week in our household and I couldn’t be happier. We prematurely decorated a couple of weeks ago for an exciting Christmas photo shoot {more on that soooon!}, but I knew if we kept the tree and decorations up that long, I’d end up getting tired of them. I love Christmas so much so I didn’t want to overdo it. So my lovely assistant husband tidied the {fully decorated} tree into our spare bedroom for a couple of weeks, and out she came on Sunday for reals.
As part of the photo shoot I had the idea to fancy up a Christmas themed bar cart. I redecorated it this week to cater to our 3 main Christmas drinks – Irish coffee, hot chocolate and mulled wine. Yes and please. I dedicated one shelf of our cart to each drink and decorated accordingly …
Husbands signature drink at Christmas is Irish coffee. He really hits the nail on the head. This year our household is rolling not one, but two Baileys deep. If you can, I would highly recommend the new Baileys Chocolat Luxe. I also included whiskey for old school Irish coffee, along with our favourite over-sized mugs ready to go. A perfect way to wind down at the end of a cold day.
The middle shelf is dedicated to hot chocolate. Mmmm. We splash out and go for Green & Black’s organic hot chocolate, which is well lush. Want to be a extra naughty? In stead of adding milk or cream to your mug of hot stuff, try a scoop of ice cream. Husband came up with that one last year, and it is heaven in your face. You will never be the same.
And last but not least, mulled wine. Husband was first introduced to mulled wine at my cousins wedding reception and loved it so much that 5 years later when we got married, we had a mulled wine reception. Every year when we decorate our Christmas tree, our tradition is to crack out a bottle of red to accompany our decorating. We do cheat and use those mulled wine tea bags with a couple extras {orange peel, brandy etc} when it’s just the two of us, but when we have guests, we go whole hog and make it from scratch.
I couldn’t resist taking a picture of our cork collection while I was down there. Whenever we visit a new country or have a special occasion we always keep the cork, write on it and add it to our collection. There are a lot of special ones in there – our engagement cork, new years corks, our honeymoon in St. Petersburg, Russia, and ones with cheeky stories …
So what are your favourite winter drinks? Are you old school like us, go for the usual beer or wine, or do you go for fancy cocktails? Eggnog is another one of my favourite Christmas drinks but a tier of eggs and cream wouldn’t really have looked very Christmassy on our cart. xx A
Irish coffee… mmm… so good.
I've never seen mulled wine tea bags before, it's such a clever idea! I love mulled wine. Here in Slovenia it's usually made with cloves, lemon and white wine (I prefer the red wine recipe though).
That whiskey bottle is really très chic!
I want a meow mug, too. Will ask Santa.
Oh man, I need to try out white mulled wine … I've never heard of it before, but it sounds lovely! I am intrigued. The red wine tea bag thingies are just the spices though – you still have to buy a bottle of red. No complaints here! Om nom nom.
Just WOW!! I love this! A shelf to each drink, all styled and decorated accordingly!!! Absolutely brilliant!
My favourite Christmas drinks are… (in no particular order) mulled wine (but I just buy the bottles ready made – even lazier than using the teabag things!), mulled cider (now I've discovered an easy way to make it – see previous comment!), definitely snowballs – my sis-in-law and I like a snowball on Christmas morning when we're getting ready to open the presents! And hot chocolate with a dash of baileys (or a cheap version of baileys!) Think that covers it! Ooh, and sometimes a little glass of sweet sherry, for the granny in me!
I want a drinks cart like yours… it's so amazing. So organised, so perfect looking – 'long nights and log fires' book just "casually" positioned…. I'm gushing!!
xx
I've heard about snowballs before from dear Nigella, but I've never tried them. I deffo need to take the plunge this year and just make them. My inner immaturity comes out at the name of them though … Snowballs.
Hot chocolate + Baileys = heaven. But seriously, try it with ice cream too.
That's freaking awesome Alex. Loving your cart!!
As you know xmas is summer time here so mulled wine doesn't feature on our agenda. However, during winter we celebrate mid winter xmas and if we drink mulled wine it's then.
It's wine here and either a pinot gris or bubbles. Although I went out the other night and had some gorgeous cocktails that were so good that they were so dangerous. You know the kind that don't taste like they have booze in them that you could drink them all night.
Oh strawberry daiquiri's are my dangerous drink so yeah, I know what you mean. But they taste so good … They can't possibly be bad for you, never mind riddled with alcohol! No, no.
Kinda figured you guys wouldn't have any of the hot drinks at Christmas. Wine FTW!
The Baileys… chocolate!!!
I have just stocked my bar-cart too, however, I think your add-ons of hot chocolate and mulled wine is brilliant. So far all I have is Baileys, wine, and Jaggermeister.
I am a Jaggermeister virgin. I don't even know what you drink it with – or if you do drink it with anything? I have it stuck in my head that it takes like gross cough medicine, so I think that's why I'm a bit put off of trying it. Another one on the list to try this Christmas. My kidneys best prepare themselves.
LOL… it kind of does taste like medicine… not cough syrup though. It tastes like bitters. It is meant as an aperatif to settle the stomache after dinner; and usually sipped straight. I, however, drink it in gingerale (Canada Dry). People look at me funny when i say that, but after they try my drink, the reaction is almost always positive.