Be Jolly, By Golly - Come be jolly with me!

I'm posting for the Be Jolly By Golly blogfest a bit early; tomorrow is going to be a bit crazy and I have another special post in the evening, too.  I can't wait for the virtual holiday party, anyway!

So come on in... it's our first year having Christmas in our own house (with both sides of the family visiting, which sounds like the start of a joke... "What happens when two atheists, two evangelicals, a tarot-card reading spiritualist and whatever my sister-in-law is get togther to celebrate the birth of Baby Jesus?" We have our first big tree:

You probably can't see, but there is a lot of pink and orange in that tree. Thank you also, Baby Jesus, that my husband is color blind.

Here's our side board in the dining room with sparkling icicles and little purple-and-bronze Christmas trees:

Yeah, photography is not my day job. Also, I am pretty sure the Grinch snuck into my house and stole my camera just to up my Christmas Stress, so I took those with my iPhone.

Would you like some hot chocolate? It's my favorite drink during winter. This is my favorite recipe to use:

• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 to 3 teaspoons HERSHEY'S unsweetened Cocoa
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract 

As the milk heats, combine dry ingredients. Add hot milk to the cocoa and sugar, then add a splash of vanilla. And some marshmallows. Maybe whipped cream. And sprinkles or chocolate shavings. Maybe a little chocolate syrup.

You know. However overboard you want to go. 'Tis the season, after all.

It's almost impossible to pick a favorite Christmas cookie, so I'm just going to go with the beloved and Most Traditional - the Spritz Christmas Tree. My grandmother made them, my mother made them, and now I don my little retro apron and make them. But not yet this year. I borrowed this image from IPB living:

Best eaten while hot and soft off the cookie sheet, in my opinion. Go ahead.

You need a cookie press for this one, of course, but the recipe itself is pretty simple:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3 cups all purpose flour 
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• a few drops of green food coloring to desired color

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy, then add vanilla and eggs and mix well. Add flour slowly until well mixed. Then add food coloring to get the desired Christmas-y green. Refrigerate at least two hours and then fill cookie press.  After pressing out the Christmas Trees, decorate with sprinkles and colored sugar (my favorite part when I was seven and still now that I'm twenty-seven). Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Merry Christmas, everybody!