Yesterday was Christmas Craft Party 2013.

Twenty of us had a glorious afternoon socializing, eating, drinking, and of course, crafting.

I’ll share the crafts and recipes with you as the week goes on, but first I want to show you the Coffee and Cocoa Bar.

Since the crafting was done outside and the high on Sunday was an unusually chilly 55 degrees, hot beverages were a must.

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I made this pretty and festive punch to take to a Cinco de Mayo party last Sunday. Needless to say, it was a hit! So much so, that it ran out before the party was over. At that point, we were just pulling the pineapple rings out of the jar and eating them. I brought home the rest and poured light rum into the jar. I’ll now have the bonus of pineapple-infused rum… in a couple of weeks. Two for one – Gotta love that!

The recipe makes a huge batch – but it can easily be cut in half. I also doubled the simple syrup and plan to use it for mojitos over Mother’s Day weekend.

My excuse? Seriously, something has to be done with all the mint in my garden … before it chokes out everything else!

Plus, I saved the mint leaves used in the simple syrup. I’m trying my hand at sugaring the leaves … and making mint-flavored sugar at the same time. I’ll keep you posted on how that works out.

So much going on from just one punch recipe!

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