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am i the only one who feels like the time between thanksgiving + Christmas is compressed by like, 10,000 times this year? seriously, i feel like just managing the daily life – work, school for the boys, activities, trying to have a smidge of time to take care of me – is sucking up all the time. then you add all the holiday prep, and just whoa.
this weekend, we had one without anything major planned (outside of the usual basketball game, workouts for the boys + church), so i declared the weekend the start of our family’s “Christmas challenge.” (which let’s be honest, it was just a way to get everyone excited, competitive and on board with helping mom + dad get the holiday set up in our house!)
one of the weekend’s goals: make wassail.
i was introduced to wassail when i started dating my husband, back in 1996. his parents made it every year, and oh. my. gosh, does it smell good and it’s so delicious too. the version that my husband grew up with had a cranberry juice base, so this year, we decided to change it up a little and go more citrus-y. and, it was declared a family fave!
so, if you want to give our new fave wassail a try this holiday season, get your crock pot out + give it a whirl!
citrus holiday wassail
2 qts. apple cider
2 cups pineapple juice
1-1/2 cups orange juice (we used the trop50 with lower sugar and no pulp)
3/4 cup lemon juice
2 cinnamon sticks
1 t. whole cloves
1 navel orange
in a crock pot, combine the apple cider, pineapple juice, orange juice, and lemon juice. drop the two cinnamon sticks in the crock pot. take the navel orange and poke the whole cloves in (through the rind). (pro hint: we make funny faces with the cloves in the orange!) place the orange in the crock pot, and set on low heat for 4 hours.
when you’re ready to serve it up, just ladle it out into mugs + enjoy!
