Cozy Hot Chocolate

Although this isn’t a tea post, it’s just as warm and cozy.

I received some home made hot chocolate mix and even home made marshmallows from my friend back in NY for Christmas. We woke up to a fresh 5” of snow today, so it seemed the perfect thing to drink.

My warm, plaid fleece blanket and snowflake pillow were deemed appropriate for the wing-backed armchair. The tea-stained, hand-painted winter wooden tray my late-mother gave me years ago was used to handle the goods.

The hot chocolate itself was as advertised on her card as a “rich adult” chocolate. BOY, is it! The word “rich” doesn’t do it justice. With warm milk and a quick stir, it was the perfect pick-me up for a day like today.

The home made marshmallows were cut thinly, and unfortunately, as soon as I plunked them into the liquid, they bobbed below the surface but continued to float and hold their shape. What a wonderful treat. They were SO soft and fresh…and sugary.

I used my beautiful Pfaltzgraff winterberry cup my niece gave me for Christmas last year and it complimented the winter white outside the window. I also used another of my delightful purchases this year from Victorian Trading Company: christmas tea stirrers with a hot chocolate theme. How cute are those?

Oh, and because there wasn’t already ENOUGH sugar in this setup, I grabbed a couple of newly baked and decorated sugar cookies. All this sugar will keep me sufficiently alert to look through all of my favorite photo books about cozy English cottages and tearooms. Can you tell I’m a wee bit of an Anglophile?

With the holidays over and winter about to properly settle in here in the state of Maine, this is the time to hunker down, cuddle up, and hibernate for a bit.

Look out cozy…I’m comin’ in!