There’s something magical about Christmas time! The brisk, chilly air makes you want to curl upside. Getting all snuggly in front of the fireplace with a warm blanket and some fuzzy socks. We love decorating the house and the tree, going to look at Christmas lights, and binging ALL the Christmas movies possible. But there’s one tradition we absolutely LOVE in our family. This, perhaps, might be our favorite Christmas tradition, though it’s not a very old one. Our kids just love that time of year when we get to pull out and set up our hot chocolate bar! I’ll be honest, I really love it too!

How it began…

It all started a few years ago when I decided that I was going hold a Christmas mini session event. I wanted something that was going to take my mini sessions over the top. The sessions were set up inside a big beautiful barn venue and it had the perfect space to do a hot chocolate bar! I originally got the inspiration from something I saw on Pinterest. pinterest.com

I wanted to put together something super cute and fun for all my families that I booked for that event. So I gathered some mason jars from our summer jam making days. We cut a small tree into thick rounds that had the bark still around the edges to put the decor and jars on. There were tons of cookies and baked goodies, a couple different kinds of hot chocolate, and a huge array of assorted toppings! Needless to say, they all loved it!!

When I brought everything home I actually had some ingredients leftover. Not wanting all my hard work designing and putting this together to go to waste, I decided to set it up in my dining room for my kids. They went nuts for it and a new Christmas tradition was born! Now, I take out our hot chocolate bar set up the first of every December. It stays up all month long. We will also bake cookies on the weekends with the kids to go with it!

All the toppings!

We have a ton of toppings that we like to include every year and sometimes we rotate through a few. But some of our favorites include, baby candy canes, marshmallows, mini chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, Heath toffee bits, Reese’s baking chips. Of course you can’t have hot chocolate without whipped cream and festive sprinkles! We also set out four types of hot chocolate mix – milk hot chocolate, white hot chocolate, peppermint hot chocolate, and a dairy free mix for me! I hope this inspires you to not be afraid to try a new Christmas tradition or at the very least, get a cup of hot chocolate!

Love this? Meet my family! https://joniloraine.me/2020/11/05/meet-our-family/