Let me explain . . .

For the past three years I have created an “advent” calendar with my photos on Facebook.   The first year was just various Christmas related quotes.   Last year was verses from the Bible relating to the Christmas story.   This year I decided to create the calendar using Christmas and holiday songs. 

I decided that the last few days before Christmas that all of my posts would be using songs about the birth of Christ and not the Santa Claus and other seasonal fare . . . but then I went to church on Sunday—

Sitting in front of us was the cutest toddler.   She was wiggly and not cooperating at all with sitting still during the service.   She had some toy that had little pieces that kept “dropping” on the floor.   Dan picked one up that rolled under their pew towards us.   One stayed on the floor.   I don’t know what toy it was, but the round piece looked like the old fashioned Christmas candy that Mom would stuff in our stockings.   You know the kind—the ones that are a disk with a flower or Christmas tree in the center?  They usually come with hard ribbon candy.

So, I should have been listening to the choir, but I started thinking of one of my favorite non-church Christmas songs, “Hard Candy Christmas” by Dolly Parton.  As my mind wandered, I decided I would do an advent day with “Hard Candy Christmas” as the song.

Fast forward to last night.   I look up the lyrics as I try to decide if I want to venture out and buy some hard candy for my photograph.   AND THEN I READ THE LYRICS!  I guess I never listened close enough . . .but “I’ll get drunk on apple wine.”    Wait a minute!  I have apple wine.   Really—real apple wine.

I love apple wine.  Years ago my friend Michelle Ellison and I visited a winery in Old Town Spring north of Houston.   They had a spiced apple wine I became infatuated with.   It tasted like hard cider should (which really, when you read the description of fruit wines, they are truly ciders).   For all my snob friends,  I like sweet tea, too.   Just for the record. 

In the years since this first discovery of apple wine, I’ve tried and sampled it all over the U.S.   I use it in making my apple wine jelly (oh yum).   Last fall we decided to go wine sampling with our friends Ralph and Mary Swatzell.  We found an Apple Pie Wine at Stone Hill Winery in Branson.  It is just like that spiced wine I tasted and fell in love with so many years ago.

And now you know why a bottle of wine ended up in my advent calendar this year!

   Ho Ho Ho and Cheers!