Cranberry Ginger Cocktail

Between the scent of fresh pine in the air, festive lights everywhere, lots of time with family, and spectacular food, this is just about my favorite time of year. This year has been especially fun because we spent Christmas with my two nieces: Amelia, who is 3, and Sophie, who is just a couple of months old. This was Amelia’s first Christmas where she had some sense of what was going on and her joy and excitement were contagious. Watching her put out cookies and milk out for Santa and running down to see what he had brought her brought back fond memories of my own childhood Christmases. Granted, she was possibly more excited about the act of unwrapping presents than some of the actual gifts she got, but she had a blast.

We were also treated to my mother-in-law’s amazing cooking, including pork belly, Bing Ssäm (her adaptation of David Chang’s Bo Ssäm), paella, sangria, lumpia, and sinigang. And those were just the dinners (she also made some amazing French toast, crab scramble, and more!). I would share some photos of all her amazing food, but frankly I was too busy eating to stop and take pictures. We cleansed our palates with biko, Christmas cookies (including my two versions of jubilee jumbles and black and white holiday bark among many others), and some spectacular chocolate pretzels bars that Amelia made (with quite a bit of help from her mom).

Now we’re in DC for a quick visit with my parents and family friends before heading to Philadelphia to spend New Year’s Eve with my sister and brother-in-law. And what better way to spend time over the holidays with family and friends than with a festive cocktail? This cocktail is so quick and easy to make that you’ll barely need to step away from the party at all.

The photos you see here are of the cocktails before I mashed up the cranberries. I was so caught up trying to make the drink and get some photos in before losing the natural daylight that I completely forgot about mashing them up until I took a sip and realized that the drink didn’t really taste like cranberries at all. Muddling the berries not only imparts some zippy cranberry tang, but also adds a bit of pretty, but subtle, pinkness. I like a lot of tang, so I really mashed them up, but you can muddle the cranberries to taste depending on how much cranberry flavor you want. Whichever way you decide to go, this refreshing drink will be perfect for friends and family to celebrate the holidays and ring in the new year.