25 Days of Christmas, Day 19: Cocoa for a Crowd

Our employee Christmas party went really well; the food was good and we played a rousing game of Dirty Santa before Hugh and the kids broke out Just Dance for the Wii, shaming almost every person in attendance into performing at least one dance. For the record, I rocked Walk Like an Egyptian despite losing to The Teenager (I'm pretty sure she cheated).

Although the dancing heated up the room and everyone in it, we still manged to go through most of the homemade cocoa that I had made in the crock pot. This is, hands down, the best cocoa you will ever drink and, because you control the sweetness depending on what kind of morsels you use; it can be tailored to any taste.

Homemade Cocoa

1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
6 cups milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups milk chocolate chips (or, bittersweet, semi-sweet, dark, etc., your call.)

Stir all ingredients together in a large crock pot. Cover and cook on low for 4 hours, stirring occasionally. For frothier cocoa, blend with an immersion blender right before serving. Serve with marshmallows.

While we were sipping cocoa and watching my husband and offspring attempt something resembling rhythm; someone mentioned the fact that Christmas was exactly a week away. I almost went into panic mode, thinking about the things that I have left to do before remembering that I had actually gotten it all done on Saturday. At that point, I relaxed and enjoyed our company.

I'm really looking forward to relaxing and enjoying the rest of this week as well; the kids and I have a full line-up of holiday classics still to watch, and; there is a bottle of wine with my name on it just waiting for It's a Wonderful Life to begin.

We do have to pack up the sleigh for the trip to Mayberry but, as Scarlett O'Hara would say; I'll think about that tomorrow.