Hot Chocolate fetish

[TrickyD]

What’s with hot chocolate being some sort of exotic drink only consumed at Christmas, or on Christmas Eve?
It is basically cocoa sugar and milk and easily available any day of the year. Why make such a song and dance about it? It is not exactly the elixir of the gods.
If you are that keen on it why do you have to snuggle on the sofa to drink it? Why not just stand around glugging it in the kitchen whenever you fancy some?

You can keep saying people are angry and abusive, but it doesn’t make it true.
Some people have hot chocolate as a Christmas tradition. Some don’t. Generally in life I think it’s far nicer to be able to take pleasure in small things, but that’s just my opinion.
I entirely agree that the sort of hot chocolate usually served to kids in cafes (usually catering size tubs of Cadbury’s, topped with cheap synthetic canned cream) isn’t a treat to anyone but people under 10!

I entirely agree that the sort of hot chocolate usually served to kids in cafes (usually catering size tubs of Cadbury’s, topped with cheap synthetic canned cream) isn’t a treat to anyone but people under 10!/

Trust me kids under 10 would not drink what you have described.
Do coffee shops still serve this? They don’t in my area thankfully as they cost fiour to five quid. They serve chocolate that melts and my kids can eat it with a spoon when they get to the bottom.
Still not a delightful annual treat though!

I like a mug of hot chocolate with cream and rum or brandy as much as the next MNetter. What I think is ridiculous is putting a packet of it in a box with possibly some PJs and making it the highlight of Christmas Eve by calling this a ‘hamper’.

Kids under ten would not drink Cadbury’s hot chocolate?
Who on earth is buying and drinking it then, because they shift a hell of a lot of tubs of the stuff?

But for many people, it’s not.

As I said previously, hot choc was a staple in our house. DD had it at bedtime most nights, for years, to get extra caries into her. But we still did a family Christmas Eve hamper after dinner - the box wrapped in Christmas paper that stored the Christmas books and dvds all year (to come out in early December and go away in January when we packed up the tree) was emptied and refilled with her stocking, her toddler plastic Santa plate and glass, our family copy of Twas the night before Christmas. New PJs for all, bath bombs for DD and I, posh hot chocolate on a stick for us all, a Christmas craft beer for DH.

once we tidied up, dd laid out her stocking and put some cookies she’d baked that afternoon on the plate with a carrot and filled the glass with milk. Then she’d have a relaxing bath, put on clean pjs to have story time drinking the hot chocolate with both of us (also having hot chocolate) downstairs, then go calmly to bed. Maybe with 1 more story upstairs.

I might get my relaxing bath that night, or another over the hols. And we’d have a quiet evening and an early night, also in fresh comfy winter pjs.

in our house, for a DC with ASD/ADHD, routine was important - and when there was no routine, we needed a different structure to signal things happening and moving to the next stage. This worked at Christmas!

I have never even taken a photo of the box, let alone posted it anywhere.

And we had plenty of other things that were more “highlights” during the day. Some happened every year, like prepping veggies and baking together in the afternoon. Others depended on whether it was a work day or a non-work day; the weather; how organised we were or not…

What was most important to us though was the quiet bubble of slowing down and enjoying family time together, and the serenity of the season. As DH and I both worked and DD kept us busy when not working, and we also had a lot of pressure to visit family for weekends a few hours away.

We’ve also never made a hot chocolate station in the kitchen - the limited counter space is far too valuable for that.

Do you not understand sarcasm?

What I think is ridiculous is putting a packet of it in a box with possibly some PJs and making it the highlight of Christmas Eve by calling this a ‘hamper’.

Right, well, I'd suggest that you simply don't do it, then.

HTH.

i used to do Christmas Eve boxes, containing pyjamas, hot chocolate sachets (or hot chocolate bombs), slippers, a Christmas themed book, reindeer food to sprinkle on the garden, an activity set and some snacks to eat while we watch a Christmas movie that evening. My kids are 4 & 6 so they go wild for it.

this year however I’m giving them the box on their last day of school because then they have some bits to do over the week up until Christmas rather than having it all the night before.

but you sound like you enjoy water biscuits and unsalted butter.

Only one side is being sneery.

I'm not telling you that you're wrong for not wanting hot chocolate, I'm just telling you I enjoy this family Christmas tradition. You, on the other hand (plus others), have been sneery and unpleasant. Own your own bad behaviour.

You carry on doing you. But please stop sneering and looking down on people who choose to find pleasure in different things than you do.

BiddyPopthe2nd
your arrangements do seem rather more hamper-like than most of the so-called hampers on other posts consisting of a packet of hot chocolate and PJs yet referred to as pretentiously as if they had just been delivered from Fortnum and Mason or Harrods.

Yeah sure, accusing someone of not buying their kids Xmas presents, not getting them cake, telling them they enjoy putting people down, etc, none of that is sneery or abusive.

honestly, we can all read it.

I didn't do that. (Apart from calling out your sneery behaviour for what it is - a deliberate attempt to put others down, which is factual, not sneery). Look back, you are mixing me up with another poster. I'll await your apology (which I'm aware you won't offer.)

I'm honestly not going to waste any more of my time on a thread about hot chocolate. Rest assured we will continue to enjoy our much loved family tradition.

Good grief, we can all read your post, it’s not like it is only visible to you.

When I did stockings for my teenager boys, I used to put hot chocolate powder, mini marshmallows and squirty cream in - it was an easy stocking filler, and they seemed to enjoy it. We did have hot chocolate available all year round, but didn’t have the marshmallows and cream.

We can all read, and that poster was neither sneery nor abusive.

Brown sadness water 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Yes we all can. You are the only one who erroneously thinks it's sneery or abusive. I'm not sure if you're on a wind up, trying to bully me, or have learning difficulties and genuinely can't understand, but your insistance on keep repeating something that's not true over and over again is making you look like a bit of a fool.

To be fair the Moomins did a lot of hiking around in the forest/ sailing/ chopping down trees etc before they had the hot chocolate.

The hot chocolate spectrum goes scalding wateryin a flimsy plastic cup at the swimming pool in the ‘80s to Spanish or Italian hot chocolate which are fantastic.

£19pp?!?!? Surely that money could have been better spent. That sounds insane.

lol,just as a poster who behaves like you do feels rhe same.

My point stands, both sides have behaved badly over bloody hot chocolate.

Jesus, this thread - it’s hot chocolate, it’s not that deep!

And my point is it's not badly behaved or in any way wrong to enjoy hot chocolate as a Christmas tradition, nor is it badly behaved to call out people who are nastily sneering about other people's Christmas traditions, and only one side (yours) has behaved badly by being the only sneery ones on the thread.

I deserve an apology from you, tbh. But your continual DARVO points to you not being of the personality type to own your bad behaviour and offer the apology due.

That's OK. We'll leave it here. Everyone can see the truth and the way you've behaved. It's all on here, in your own words.

We also have a catered breakfast on a Monday, to encourage people into the office and £12per day, per person to spend on Deliveroo for lunch. £19 for a hot chocolate bar is nothing for them.

Clearly hairyunicorn does not work in the public sector.

I'll just take the £60 please 😁