Holiday Beverages

A few years ago, we went to Lancaster, PA on vacation. We had always wanted to travel to Amish country and I had read enough Beverly Lewis novels that I felt like I was already familiar with Lancaster and the surrounding area. We spent about four days up there and surprisingly enough, the Amish culture was not what we expected. We had allotted most of our time to learning more about the Amish and only saved one day for the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire. After returning home, we talked about how we wished we had reversed our plans and spent more time at the Renaissance Faire than in the Amish towns.

The Renaissance Faire was a blast. More people than not were dressed in period clothing (performers and customers). There were things going on all over the fairgrounds and by the end of the day, we still hadn't seen everything. The girls were able to hold baby dragons. We watched a few jousting matches and several plays. The coolest thing, by far, was the human chess match. Queen Elizabeth and her court walked around the fairgrounds and were in character the entire time. There wasn't a moment that anyone was out of character. It was very neat.

At the end of the evening, we watched the closing ceremony and then were ushered to a winery on the grounds. There we were treated to a free wine tasting. This winery put out so many yummy wines that you really did need to take part in the tasting in order to figure out what you wanted to buy to take home. If they had a wine of the month club, we would have joined for certain! In the end, we ended up bringing home six yummy bottles of wine. I think my favorite was a blueberry wine but there was also one called Quilter's Delight that was quite nice. All of the bottles we brought home were holiday flavors. We enjoyed them at Thanksgiving and at Christmas with our family and friends.

So this year, as I prepare for Thanksgiving, I'm wishing I had some wonderful tasting wines. I'd like to have a special one for Thanksgiving and another special one for Christmas this year. As usual, I am seeking your suggestions. What do you serve, as a special drink, with your holiday meals?