Month: December 2020 (Page 1 of 3)

Dumpster Fire

December 31, 2020 / Monkeybrad / 4 Comments

New Year’s Eve 2020

I’d like to say we made it, but there are still a few hours of 2020 left and if I have learned nothing else this year, it is to take nothing for granted. So, I am not gonna make any assumptions, but do hope that we will all make it till midnight and to see the sun rise on a new day. I have had a lot of thoughts about how to end this year and begin the next. It makes sense to look back on what was and celebrate the wins, mourn the losses, but I am not sure I can even remember who we were when this interminable year began. I am just gonna make a drink and see where that takes us. So, won’t you please join me now as we stand and make an old Uncle Monkey original, the Dumpster Fire.

Yule Love Amaro

December 25, 2020 / Monkeybrad / 0 Comments

The 12 Drinks of Christmas – Twelfth Drink

We made it to Christmas, but this is not the holiday we were expecting. I had planned a very different post today, but with the events of this morning, I just can’t. Life goes on and we are making a drink, but like so much in 2020, we are going to make some accommodations and not pretend for a moment that any of this is remotely normal. So in that spirit, please join me for this last of our The 12 Drinks of Christmas. Sing along at home, if you like, because, “For the twelfth drink of Christmas, Uncle Monkey made for me, Yule Love Amaro.

Horwich Hall

December 24, 2020 / Monkeybrad / 1 Comment

The 12 Drinks of Christmas – Eleventh Drink

Here we are on Christmas Eve with the penultimate drink on our list for this penultimate day of the Christmas season. I am pretty sure that the only reason people ever work through lists like this is for the opportunity to use penultimate correctly and I am contractual obligated to do so. I hope you will forgive the repetitiveness. I have a lot rituals that go with this day, most of which did not quite work out in Covid world. It is kind of hard to do some good for random strangers while actively avoiding contact with people as much as possible, but we were able to do some good and now it is time to relax and reflect a bit. So in that spirit, please join me for this eleventh of The 12 Drinks of Christmas. Sing along at home, if you like, because, “For the eleventh drink of Christmas, Uncle Monkey made for me, the Horwich Hall”.

Pom-Pimm’s Fizz

December 23, 2020 / Monkeybrad / 1 Comment

The 12 Drinks of Christmas – Tenth Drink

We are almost there. It can be tough sometimes, the holidays take a toll in the best of times. Even just going through the motions can be a challenge. Especially this year, with so many losses, so many things that did not work out as planned and honestly, just so many differences from our usual traditions. Getting in the holiday spirit has been hard, if not impossible, and that’s ok. As the man said, it is what it is. All the worrying in the world won’t suddenly make our hearts grow three sizes this day, so don’t beat yourself up. If you have found your good cheer, congratulations; if not, don’t worry about it. Like the song says, we will muddle through somehow. So in that spirit, please join me for this tenth of The 12 Drinks of Christmas. Sing along at home, if you like, because, “For the tenth drink of Christmas, Uncle Monkey made for me, a Pom-Pimm’s Fizz.”

Holiday Margarita

December 22, 2020 / Monkeybrad / 0 Comments

The 12 Drinks of Christmas – Ninth Drink

If 2020 has taught us anything, it is to roll with the punches and appreciate the things you have. I had planned a different drink for this evening, a complicated punch from the 18th century that is honestly too troublesome to attempt, but I wanted to go over the top. Things fell through and rather than being upset, I just went with an alternate and that is just fine. It’s kind of like this year, things turned out differently than I had hoped, but it’s gonna be alright, eventually. So in that spirit, please join me for this ninth of The 12 Drinks of Christmas. Sing along at home, if you like, because, “For the ninth drink of Christmas, Uncle Monkey made for me, a Holiday Margarita.”

Frosted Sugar Plum

December 21, 2020 / Monkeybrad / 0 Comments

The 12 Drinks of Christmas – Eighth Drink

Christmas is a time to reflect on our lives. To look at the year nearly past and how things have changed. For me, even more than New Year’s, this is a time for reflection, to think about what we’ve gained, what we have lost. It’s been a hard year for all of us. So many losses and they just keep coming, as today we found out that yet another friend has passed from Covid. It makes it hard to find the spirit of the season with so many people hurting. We take many things for granted, especially our beliefs. We have to to try to stay positive, though. To look on the brighter side and count the blessings we have, even on this Winter Solstice, the darkest day of the year, or the last night before things begin to get brighter, depending on your point of view. So in that spirit, please join me for the eighth of The 12 Drinks of Christmas. Sing along at home, if you like, because, “For the eighth drink of Christmas, Uncle Monkey made for me, a Frosted Sugar Plum”.

Boozy Orange Hot Chocolate

December 20, 2020 / Monkeybrad / 1 Comment

The 12 Drinks of Christmas – Seventh Drink

There are all kinds of treats that we only enjoy during the holiday season. We rarely have candy canes, those awesome chocolate oranges that break apart into wedges or snickerdoodles in May. Then there are those treats we enjoy more often, but are extra special this time of year. What would Christmas be without a big creamy mug of Hot Chocolate? Well, we aren’t going to find out, but we are going to sexy it up a bit and make a more adult version of this decadent treat with a nod to those chocolate oranges. So in that spirit, please join me for the seventh of The 12 Drinks of Christmas. Sing along at home, if you like, because, “For the seventh drink of Christmas, Uncle Monkey made for me, Orange Hot Chocolate”.

Coquito

December 19, 2020 / Monkeybrad / 1 Comment

The 12 Drinks of Christmas – Sixth Drink

We have been talking a lot about the signs of the season and the things we love. We don’t all love the same things though, and that is ok. My wife despises the popcorn Santa in this picture. I love, love, love, him. He is met each year with the traditional rolling of her eyes as I find somewhere I can see him and experience the joy he brings. Different strokes for different folks move the world, as they say. We should embrace our differences, celebrate how diversity keeps things from getting boring and most of all, learn to appreciate those things that others love. So in that spirit, please join me for the sixth of The 12 Drinks of Christmas. Sing along at home, if you like, because, “For the sixth drink of Christmas, Uncle Monkey made for me, a Coquito.”

Hot Buttered Rum

December 18, 2020 / Monkeybrad / 3 Comments

The 12 Drinks of Christmas – Fifth Drink

Decadence is the order of the day, as it almost always is during the holidays. It seems like we play by slightly different rules during this time of year. We are a little more free with our budgets. Whether, this means extra gifts for people and charitable giving, which is always a good thing or going a little heavier on the sweets. The holidays are a time for indulgence. I am not casting stones here, I had a red velvet cupcake for breakfast, so I am in no position to judge. I am, however in a position to enable and this evening’s drink is seriously decadent. So in that spirit, please join me for the fifth of The 12 Drinks of Christmas. Sing along at home, if you like, because, “For the fifth drink of Christmas, Uncle Monkey made for me, a Hot Buttered Rum.”

Peruvian Christmas

December 17, 2020 / Monkeybrad / 0 Comments

The 12 Drinks of Christmas – Fourth Drink

It is about more than giving and getting presents or spending time with the one’s we love. It is about more than street corner Santa’s or the spirit of charity in the air. In many ways, for me, it is about the smallest things. A single lit tree in the yard of the same house I have driven by for the last twenty years. That tree was decorated by someone I have never met, in front of a house I have never visited, but it always makes me smile the first time I drive by and see the lights are there once again. How many of the things we love, those signs of the season that mean it is Christmas, are done each year by strangers? How many of our own decorations or rituals signal that same thing to people we have never met? Like Clarence said, each of us affects so many others, without ever realizing it. It gives one pause. So in that spirit, please join me for the fourth of The 12 Drinks of Christmas. Sing along at home, if you like, because, “For the fourth drink of Christmas, Uncle Monkey made for me, a Peruvian Christmas.”