Gifts Made with Love

Here we are again, at the doorstep of another holiday that will likely be very different than years before. Christmas for most of us will be more subdued. There will be no office holiday parties, and likely no cookie exchanges.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t still show your love and appreciation for family, friends and neighbors with a little something. In fact, maybe this year more than any other, we should show a little extra love, even if it’s a simple gesture.

I have always loved gifts handmade with love and have shared a few with you in the past. Some of my favorites to make and share include Chocolate Cherry Granola, or Christmas Elf Popcorn. Of course, cookies like Jean’s Lemon Whippersnappers are always great, too.

But this year, I thought I would pull out a family classic from my childhood – Homemade Hot Cocoa mix. My mom had it on hand every Winter. In fact, I don’t think I even knew it came in store bought packets until I was served that at a friend’s home.

It’s easy enough to whip up a huge batch of homemade cocoa that will provide you with enough for gifts and still leave you with some on hand for your own family. Of course, if you have no intention of sharing food gifts this year, just take the recipe and halve it for a smaller batch.

The base of the recipe is dry milk powder, which gives it a luxurious creamy taste, like comfort in a cup. You add some non-dairy creamer, powdered sugar and instant chocolate drink mix, like Nesquick. Mix it all together really well and that’s it. The mix has chocolate, cream and sweetener, so you really only need to add hot water. And of course, marshmallows and/or whipped cream.

All of the items in the hot cocoa mix also have an extremely long shelf life, so this homemade gift does not have to be consumed immediately, making it much more flexible than a platter of cookies.

Scoop the mix into adorable glass jars or some other cute airtight container and dress it up with a festive ribbon. If you wish, leave enough room in the container to add marshmallows on top of the dry mix. Do not forget to include a little note explaining how much mix to use in each cup of hot cocoa.

When serving the hot cocoa mix, you only need 1/4 cup of mix to 8 oz. of hot water. So, depending on what container you want to gift, it can contain many servings.

Add a cute mug to a jar of hot cocoa mix and you have the perfect gift of warmth and comfort for any friend, neighbor, or maybe even your mail carrier.

Whatever your plans may be this holiday season, I wish you some moments of peace to enjoy the true reason for the season, the birth of Jesus Christ, our Savior. May you enjoy the twinkle lights and a chance to slow down, and have a cup of hot cocoa with everyone you love.

I will be slowing down to enjoy the family that we can see, and the small group of friends in our quaranteam. I will see you again in 2021, when we will hopefully begin to enjoy a new year with new hope.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!