Here We Come A Wassailing

Keegan and I went wassailing for the first time on Friday. For those of you who don't know what wassail is, Wikipedia says:

"Wassail the beverage is a hot, mulled punch often associated with Yuletide. Historically, the drink was a mulled cider made with sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg and topped with slices of toast. Modern recipes begin with a base of wine, fruit juice, or mulled ale, sometimes with brandy or sherry added. Apples or oranges are often added to the mix. While the beverage typically served as "wassail" at modern holiday feasts with a medieval theme most closely resembles mulled cider, historical wassail drinks were completely different, more likely to be mulled beer or mead. Sugar, ale, ginger, nutmeg, and cinnamon would be placed in a bowl, heated, and topped with slices of toast as sops."

In our small town, there is the "Wassail Fest" at the beginning of December where many of the downtown businesses are open late, serve their own special wassail and hope to be voted the town favorite wassail for that year. Many of them also have sales going on so people seem to get a lot of Christmas shopping done. The art gallery I work at participated (we've been a past wassail winner, so we need to keep up the tradition,) and we had Santa and Mrs. Claus visit for the kids. I snuck out of work for a bit and Keegan and I walked around to see what all of the fuss was about. The wassail was a good, but there were a lot of people squeezed into tiny stores which really isn't my thing so we didn't stay long. We stopped into a local photography studio and got into the photobooth, so I'm waiting for those pictures to be posted so I can post them. After we saw the town Christmas tree, we went home pretty much exhausted from a long week. 

I'm *somewhat* in a more holiday mood after wassailing, but still not as excited as I usually am for the festivities. I still believe that it's because I'm away from family for the first time leading up to the holidays. I'm counting down the days until we get to go home for Christmas. I'm crossing my fingers that Keegan and I will get our tree today, maybe that'll get me in a more Christmas-y mood.