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The Oliver's Madhouse

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29/11/2016

Christmas Traditions And Making New Ones

Christmas Traditions And Making New Ones The Oliver\\\'s MadhouseChristmas is packed with wonderful family traditions, with spending time with family and over indulging with delicious foods and even more indulgent drinks. 

This year however we have decided to not only enjoy our family gatherings but also to take some time out for ourselves as a couple. 

For us 2016 has been an epic year with some amazing events, such as baby Jacobs birth, family holidays and family time in general but what we have missed with a newborn is time to ourselves as a couple. 

So knowing I am about to embark on months and months of pain with my upcoming major abdominal reconstructive surgery we decided to get our Christmas kicked off in style with the kids at Grandma and Grandads and an afternoon of Christmas present wrapping followed by a film and some festive drinks just for us.

I know this doesn’t sound super exciting in the grand scheme of things but for us it was so what was needed … especially since the festive period is packed to the rafters.

Christmas Traditions And Making New Ones The Oliver\\\'s Madhouse
So with the kids safely tucked up at Grandmas we let the parent party commence with the Festive Christmas tipple, Snowballs. 

Snowballs are something that I have enjoyed at get togethers when made by someone else but we had never tried making them here at home so with parties planned it was time to try out making some snowballs of our very own to find our own favourite version of this nostalgic retro Christmas drink.

Christmas Traditions And Making New Ones The Oliver\\\'s Madhouse
Warninks very kindly donated some of the key ingredients to see if we could pull off making our own snowball and to help us discover our perfect recipe this christmas but I got rather carried away and made a few versions of the traditional snowball and although we love the original, we made an even nicer versions that tasted similar to a chocolate orange! 

Christmas Traditions And Making New Ones The Oliver\\\'s MadhouseChocolate Orange Snowball
Heres how I made this new recipe from an old favourite …

I moistened the rim of a wine glass and rolled it in drinking chocolate powder

* Add 50mls of Warninks Advocaat and 25mls of freshly squeezed orange juice (you could use cordial but you may need to adjust for taste)

* Top up the glasses with lemonade

* On top of the drink sprinkle on some dark chocolate shavings. 

This drink was super simple and started off our Christmas traditions in style this year, now it’s finally Christmas! 

Now for the damn elf on the shelf to come out of hiding, brace myself for the Christmas nativity and argue with Ollie over the size of the turkey that I am buying …. But I wouldn’t have it any other way!

Disclaimer: This is a collaborative post with Warninks and my entry into the #NowItsXmas campaign. If you are looking to purchase Warninks Advocaat  you can find it in Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrisons, Waitrose, and any good convenience store but don’t forget to please drink responsibly. 

Filed Under: All Things Christmas

About Jaime

Jaime Oliver is a multi-award-winning parenting and family blogger from Nottingham who has been sharing her parenting journey online at The Oliver’s Madhouse since 2012. Jaime writes about life with her 2 little boys from days out and adventures to milestones and moments there is no parenting or family topic she wouldn’t share to normalise and celebrate the differences in parenting.



When Jaime is not writing about her family she is can be found writing about her journey of self-discovery in learning to cook and fall in love with her home again on her food and interiors blog notTHATJaimeOliver.com

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Elaine Livingstone says

    29/11/2016 at 4:07 am

    No no no to that bl**dy elf. hope you have a good time hun.

    Reply
  2. Michelle Ashmore says

    29/11/2016 at 7:30 am

    It’s been a Christmas tradition of ours since we got married that Ant makes me my first snowball of the year on the first Saturday of the month, while we’re putting up the tree and decorations. Snowballs are a favourite from my childhood as it’s the only alcohol we ever allowed as children (dad would make it very weak!) and that first sip sends me rocketing back to wonderful childhood Christmases!
    I’ve never tried anything other than the original though so I’ll be trying your recipe this year, after my first original one; no breaking with tradition here! 🙂 xx

    Reply
    • Jaime says

      29/11/2016 at 8:35 am

      I adore this Michelle! i so love traditions and so wish ours had involve snowballs sooner there is something quite indulgent about them isn’t there!

      Our tree decorating will now have to involve them too

      Reply
  3. Karen, the next best thing to mummy says

    29/11/2016 at 6:01 pm

    Snowballs always remind me of my Aunty Pam, we were allowed a small one, when we went to visit at Christmas time, Merry Christmas, Jaime!

    Reply
  4. Susan Mann says

    01/12/2016 at 11:38 pm

    Aww I love this. Christmas traditions are what make christmas isn’t it? I love the elf. xx

    Reply
  5. RachelSwirl says

    02/12/2016 at 9:11 pm

    Love the chocolate rolled glasses they look fab!

    Reply

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