I have to admit, it took me a bit to get into the holiday spirit. I don’t know what my mental block was about. We got our Christmas tree super early this year, and had it up and decorated before Dec. 1. I’ve been invited to several holiday parties. I ordered this holiday onesie to live in during Christmas, which E and I are spending in Vermont this year after last year’s warm weather holiday.

But I just didn’t have that holly jolly feeling. That ‘let’s bake Christmas cookies and drink Baileys by the fire’ feeling. I couldn’t explain it. Maybe it was the lack of snow on the ground, thanks to El Nino. But finally, it happened. The holiday spirit hit me this weekend. And I have eggnog to thank for it.

I remember back a few years ago, before E and I were married or engaged, he worked for a few nights in a row to test the perfect eggnog recipe. He mixed up quite a few batches and went through a few bottles of cognac before he found his core formula. So I was inspired to make a special version of our eggnog now, being this is our first Christmas together as a married couple.

So, this eggnog. Freaking delicious. Flavored with all of the liqueurs we collected over our travels—Mauritian rum from a local distillery and Mauritian vanilla from a plantation we visited on the last day of our honeymoon visit there. We even used local Kings County chocolate whiskey for our ‘nog, too! E and I slurped these down on a Saturday afternoon, sitting on the couch, looking at our perfectly lit Christmas tree. Finally, the holiday light switch in my heart flipped on. Bring on Christmas.

Don’t I look like I’m in the holiday spirit when I’m making this?

Holiday Eggnog from 300 Sandwiches on Vimeo.

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