Tangle's Hot Chocolate Spotlight: how to make your base

A good hot chocolate comes from a good foundation. When thinking about the base of your drink, you want to consider the pot, the chocolate, and the milk. Remember, different things will work for different people so get creative and try out different combinations until you find one that works for you.









Step one: The pot
Now there's not a whole lot of variations in the type of pot or kettle you can use, but you do have options.

• First, the clay pot. You'll find these online and in some Asian groceries. Clay pots tend to absorb flavors, and can make bitter tastes more mild. If you use very dark chocolate for the health benefits, or add tahini, miso, or espresso into your drink this will help highlight the underlying flavors by dialing down all that bitterness. Remember clay pots hold onto flavor profiles, so it's best if you use one dedicated to hot chocolate instead of using one for all your hot drinks.
• Then we have the ceramic pot. Ceramic pots don't have a lot of influence on flavor, but are great for presenting your drink to guests. They tend to be breakable and chip easy, though so it's best used for special occasions
• Metal pots such as copper or stainless steel also have no affect on flavor, but they do retain heat very well. If you have a long day inside and don't want to have to reheat your hot chocolate as often, then using a metal pot would be best.
• Finally, glass pots have little to no affect on heat or taste, but are great for aesthetic drinks like the ones that are blue or pink, or maybe have berries floating in them.

Step two: The chocolate

There are different types of chocolates you can use based on flavor, sweetness, health benefits, or even price. The big four are:

• White chocolate. Many will argue that white chocolate is not real chocolate, just like white itself is not a real color. I say it's all semantics. White chocolate is usually made with cocoa butter instead of the cocoa plant, and has a lot of milk and sugar in it. Great to use if you want a specific color for your hot chocolate, or don't want too many flavors competing with your mix ins.
• Semi Sweet dark chocolate. This is basically dark chocolate with more sugar in it. It's usually used for baking but is a budget friendly option due to it's easy availability in grocery stores.
• Milk chocolate: every kid's favorite. Milk chocolate usually has at least 25% cocoa solids in it, and the amount of actual chocolate to milk depends on the company and brand. This chocolate is typically softer and melts easier, so it's great if you're short on time.
• Dark chocolate: This chocolate is the most bitter because there is no milk added. Depending on the brand, you'll find anywhere from 30% - 80% actual cocoa in it. The more pure it is, the drier/chalkier it will be. It tends to have a bitter aftertaste but can lower blood sugar when consumed in moderate amounts.

Step three: The milk

It's hard to wrap your head around all of the different options you have for the liquid foundation of your hot chocolate these days. A few decades ago your choices were basically cow's milk or water. Well, here's what we have now:

• Almond milk: You can get this sweetened, unsweetened, or flavored. It makes the drink nice and creamy, and has the barest hint of almond taste so it pairs great with other nut-based items like hazelnut mix-ins or chopped nut toppings.
• Cow's milk: The original. Good source of protein and brain vitamins.
• Oat milk: great for someone with a lot of allergies. There are no nuts, no soy, and no lactose.
• Hemp milk: makes your drink incredibly creamy, and can lower blood pressure when consumed in moderation.
• Rice milk: The sweetest milk by far, and also good for blood pressure.
• Soy milk: has a lot of nutrients, but also has plant-based estrogen so not a great idea if you're already sensitive to hormone imbalances or on a hormone treatment plan.
• Coconut milk: lower in calories than the other milk options, has a subtle sweet taste so it won't overpower anything, and can raise good cholesterol.
• Water: zero affect on taste, but also zero calories and free of cost in most places.

Figure out what combinations work best with your personality and your budget. There are so many possibilities, I think you could spend a good couple of months just perfecting the foundation of your hot chocolate alone!

Christmas nails for beginners

Like pretty nails? I do. Except I don't like spending money on a nail salon, and I definitely don't want to spend a whole lot of time making and maintaining my nails. So here's a few ideas to have festive nails that don't take too much time or money.

1. The accent nail 
Grab two colors. Make 8 nails one color, and use the second color to draw attention to the other two. The accent trend started with newly engaged women wanting to draw attention to their engagement ring. It caught popularity, became a trend, and now anyone can use it.

2. Dots

Want a more complex look without the complex tools? With a steady hand, dot art could be your thing.

3. Add some glitter

The dollar General by me usually has some silver and gold glitter top coats, so it's super easy to just add a solid color and cover it in glitter. It takes all of five minutes to repair chipped nail polish with these, so it's definitely a go-to for busy weeks.

So try a few of these out and see what you think! I primarily use the third strategy and people at work ask where I get my nails done. Little do they know, it's nail polish that costs a dollar and I can do it while watching Christmas movies.

Christmas lifestyle: What's your 'thing'?

Christmas means so many things to many different people. As much as we might want to do everything every year, there's just no space. Even working all year, there isn't always time. So it's helpful to choose a theme.

For my mom, it's snowmen. She jokes that starting a collection of snowmen was an accident--she put a decorative snowman on her desk once and people started giving her snowmen as gifts.

For my sister, it's cats. Cat backpacks, cat snowglobes, cat ornaments, actual cats... yes, it's not necessarily Christmas-related, but it's special to her and makes her happy. Isn't that what it's all about?

For myself, I realized last year I had a thing for snowglobes. I got my first in 2017, and had it on my desk all year. I worked in a call center, so if I was on a particularly difficult call, shaking the snowglobe and trying to land the flakes on the snowman's hat kept me calm. In 2018 I added a couple more onto my desk and just like my mom said, people started gifting them to me.

My daughter hasn't quite landed on anything yet, but I get a feeling she'll be accruing crafts. We have a trunk in the closet full of her artwork, and we'll already need a new one this year (she's four years old, for reference).

So what's your thing? What makes you happiest? Is it hunting for that special ornament or Christmas village piece? Is it finding a new experience to have or leveling up your Christmas baking? Whatever it is, I hope it makes this year perfect for you. And if you haven't found your thing yet, don't worry--it'll come to you. I'll be showcasing a lot of different traditions this year so try a few of them out and see what resonates.

Meet the elves: Tangle

Name: Tangle
Talent: Hot Chocolate Elf
Mate: Tingle (toy maker)

What makes her special: Tangle is the only Christmas elf that can cry, and she can use alchemy.
Naughty or nice: Mostly nice
Secret: Tangle may or may not be half-fairy.










Hi! I'm Tangle. We met earlier in the year, and I'd like to give you a better idea of what Christmas is like at the north pole. My special talent is making the perfect cup of Hot Chocolate. Everybody is different, so what might taste amazing to one person might not work so much for someone else.

My favorite drink has milk chocolate melted with almond milk. I stir in a bit of hazelnut cream like nutella and top it with cinnamon. It tastes so warm, and goes great with cookies!

Anyway, there isn't a lot of sun in the North sometimes, so usually one of the cookie elves comes to wake me up so I can make nice warm drinks for the elves that like to work in the morning. After that, I like to wander into the library and listen to storyweavers, or I might stay in the kitchen and taste new cookies so I can tell what goes best with different cups of cocoa.

My favorite place in the world is the toy lodge. My partner Tingle likes to work later in the day, so we walk there together as he starts creating. Tingle is so great with electricity, he can make just about anything light up or dance!

After Tingle and I say goodbye at the toy lodge, I like to help clean up in the kitchen and settle down in bed with a glass of water and a book. Sometimes one of the baby elves will come in my room to listen to a story, and when they fall asleep I take them back to the nursery so I can rest up for another early day.

So that's me, Tangle! throughout the year you'll get to meet all of my best friends and we'll even answer some questions that we find in the mail room.

Easy baking: Cake mix cookies

Cake mix cookies are the absolute best. They really don't take long to make, so they're great for that potluck you forgot, or for the daycare party that snuck up on you. A bonus: one box makes a bunch of cookies, and cake mix keeps for a fair amount of time, so you can stock up on sales and make a batch for about a dollar. Here I have two different types: lemon and red velvet. Make sure you wash your baking bowl as soon as you can with the red velvet, or the red will stain everything. I recommend a stainless steel baking bowl because they're easy to wash.

First, we'll go over the lemon cookies. I can never seem to get the 'spoon sized dollops' right so mine end up a bit on the bigger side. You'll need:

• A box of lemon cake mix. Whatever was on sale will work.
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• powdered sugar or sprinkles
• A small cup of water or flour

          So: Throw the cake mix, eggs, and oil in a bowl and mix. This gets sticky, so keep your bowl of water handy so you can dip your spoon or hands into it. The water helps without influencing the outcome too much. You could also use flour, but be careful not to use too much or your cookies will look flat and won't crinkle as much.

          Preheat your oven to 375, and put some parchment paper on a cookie sheet. If you're going with powdered sugar, roll "spoon sized dollops" in the sugar and place on the sheet. Personally, I prefer sprinkles. I pour the sprinkles in a small bowl (usually the cap of the sprinkle jar) and dip the dough into the container before placing it on the sheet. If you're super patient, you can spread the dough out and use a pizza cutter to make little squares and then sprinkle your sprinkles (ha!) over it all at once.

           Give these guys plenty of room to grow! I usually end up with about 30 cookies so you'll need a few rounds in the oven. Bake for 7 or eight minutes. If you have a small oven, check on them at 6 minutes.

          Let them breathe! These cookies have undergone a metamorphosis in less than 10 minutes, so move the pan on top of the stove to rest while you put in the next batch. After about 5 minutes, transfer them from the pan to some cooling racks.

Done! You did fabulously. Ready for the next one? Red is definitely in our holiday palette, just remember if you roll the dough out to make squares, lay a piece of wax paper down first so you don't stain your counter.

You'll need:

• A box of red velvet cake mix
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup of oil
• white chocolate chips or mini marshmallows or sprinkles

      Bring that oven down to 350 for this recipe. Just like the lemon cookies, we're basically throwing everything into a bowl and mixing it together. Mix the cake mix, oil, and eggs first. Then you can fold in the chocolate chips or marshmallows. Marshmallows will make the cookies fluff up just a bit more than usual, but come out super yummy.

      For these cookies, it helps to throw them in the freezer for no more than 10 minutes (If you've got time to kill, throw it in the fridge for 45) . Just enough to cool it down and let everything settle in to each other. But after that, go ahead and try your skill with Spoon Sized Dollops or go the slightly easier route and spread the dough out on some wax paper so you can cut squares out with a pizza cutter. (I dipped my pizza cutter in flour to keep the dough from sticking)

      Bake for about 12 minutes, and let cool in a similar fashion as the lemon ones. 

Done! You can do this with almost any cake mix. Experiment with your favorite cake mix and toppings! Here we have two different oven temperatures and cooking times. Which one was better? 

Christmas 2019: Make thank you cards, shop sales, start thinking about tiers

I know, I know. "It's too early for Christmas!" But hear me out, here: It's never too early to start if you technically don't stop, am I right? Anyway, I'm starting you off super easy.

Step 1: Thank the people who have given you gifts
When we were kids, things like adding a picture to a thank you note were way more work than it was worth. Still, I quite remember sitting on my living room floor writing out thank you notes to all of my relatives. These days, it's super easy! For your family and close friends, I still think a handwritten note is the best avenue but here are some ideas for thanking everyone else. As a bonus, share a picture with your thank you of the gift or of you with the gift!

• Make a Facebook shout out post. Remember to tag your friend!
• Share on Instagram or snapchat.
• Send an email if you prefer things private
• Make a YouTube video

So you don't even have to make handcrafted thank you notes (unless you want to). These thank yous will take all of two minutes, so go do it!

Step 2: Shop the Christmas clearance sales

Start stocking up for Christmas 2019. If you're into decorating, get discount garlands and lights. If you like card making, get a bunch of discount cards and envelopes for inspiration or to implement into your own cards. Got a sweet tooth? Discount candy, baby! Here's my shopping list:

• Discount cards and envelopes. I look for textures, images, and even sentiments on the inside of the card that I like. Around this time of year, they go for about ten cents each at Dollar General.
• Stickers, also for cards.
• Tinsel garlands and small home decor items that will come in handy for either home decorating or office decorating next year.
• Trinkets and toys to put in my prize box at work.
• Candy!
• Baking items like sprinkles or candy molds, or every day home items like Ziploc bags and Tupperware.

Step 3: Start thinking about tiers

Think of tiers like your own personal Naughty and Nice list. It's helpful to have when you're planning out how many cards to make or making a budget for gifts. Tier 1 people are the people I would go to the moon for. My mother, sister, and mentor make this list. Tier 2 people are people that I like but don't really have a deep relationship with. Most of my coworkers fall here. Tier 3s are people that I gift to because I'm nice like that, or people who have to receive a generic gift from me because a personal one would put me in iffy waters with HR. The people on the team I supervise fall here, as well as teachers from my daughter's daycare (okay...and one of my bosses. shh!) So what does this mean for Christmas?

• Tier 1: The best of the best. The card they receive is handmade, and lights up. I think this year I'll experiment with detailed popups or musical cards, and these will go to Tier 1 as well. When budgeting the present, they traditionally land somewhere in the low hundreds, or in terms of time I prepare for a DIY that may take anywhere from ten to fifty hours to complete.

• Tier 2: I like these people. They were nice to me last year, or gave me a thoughtful gift. But it's not like we're really besties. We probably don't hang out at all after work, or even follow each other online. This may even be a family member that married into the family that I don't talk to. I'm still giving a handmade card, but it probably won't light up. It definitely won't sing, and any popups will be quick and easy to make. Gifts usually don't cost more than 30 dollars or any more than 5 hours to make.

• Tier 3: Think bulk. Usually the people on this list receive a store-bought Christmas card, maybe with a thoughtful message inside. Gifts range from a simple box of baked goods (homemade, I'm not a monster) to a small box filled with trinkets or candy. I'm not spending a whole lot of time on these gifts, so if I do DIY something $20 might get supplies for 5-10 people and putting the gifts together takes less than an hour.

So go, grab your Christmas notebook or open your Christmas Excel sheet and start writing down names and sorting people out!

How to: Store Christmas ornaments

Alright! So yesterday we found some fun ways to store Christmas lights, and there were a great many ways to do that so I waited for a brand new day to start before working on ornaments! Whether you have Dollar tree ornaments, homemade, or handcrafted glass, ornaments can be precious so we want to store them well.

1: The solo cup method

These plastic party cups are a dime a dozen, especially around the holidays. A piece of cardboard between layers means less mess when removing the cups, and a bonus: if the hook falls out, it's easy to find. Pros: Good for almost any shaped ornament, and many sizes. Con: Eco friendly elves might not appreciate the extra plastic, but you can reuse the cups year after year!

2. The drive through regular method
Speaking of waste, those drive though cup holders have perfect sized holes to fit mid-to-large sized ornaments. It'd be a shame to just throw them away. Pros: reduces waste and has vertical storage  potential. Cons: It's a reminder of just how much fast food you've had this year, and is pretty limited to sphere shapes.

3. The ready-to-hang method
If you have some long storage boxes, this might be an option for you. Pros: Easily color coded, and you can find the ornament you want at a glance. Cons: I am just one clumsy misstep away from breaking every ornament I own.

4. The nest method
Take some of those amazon boxes and make grids for your ornament boxes. You can use coffee filters, as shown here, or you can wrap the ornaments in newspaper or magazine pages. A fun part of taking them out next year is seeing current events or trends from years past by looking at the newspaper article attached.

5. The egg carton method
Personally, I've never used this--I just don't have ornaments that small. But if you happen to have egg shaped ornaments, this is a great way to store them. Pros: Cartons are designed for protecting fragile things. Cons: Not very flexible when it comes to size.

6. The Why Put Them Away method
Why put them away? We could just move them into color coordinated glass jars. Display them in the kitchen, office, table, bookshelf, or wherever you want, really. Pros: Makes swapping ornaments for year-round trees easier. Cons: Maybe not the best method for super small spaces--every square inch matters.





That was a lot of fun! Hopefully you can mix and match ideas to find the perfect system for your family. Now that we have a little cleaning out of the way, tomorrow we're actually going to start planning Christmas 2019!

How to: Store Christmas lights

If you're the type of person to take your decorations down, you probably wonder how to store them. I know, it can be tempting to just shove them in a box and worry about untangling everything next year. Please, don't. I'm getting stressed just thinking of your stress.

First: Lights.







You could use a garden hose spool for your lights. Pro: Easy unspooling if done right. Con: broken lights if done wrong.

You could also grab a few hangers to spool lights onto. Pro: easy vertical storage if you also get one of those space savers for the closet that you can put these hangers on. Con: spooling these lights can be just as frustrating as untangling them.

To cut down on waste, you could use leftover wrapping paper rolls. Pro: Less waste and less tangles! Con: personally, I'd be frustrated that mine doesn't look as perfect as this guy's.

You could also reuse those Amazon boxes that have been piling up. Pro: again, less waste. Con: less pretty.

You could also not take down your lights. If you must, take away the 'Christmas' part of them and call them fairy lights. Make forts, wall art, chandeliers...if you do this, do a bit of research into the best quality lights and get the most bang for your buck














So that's all the cool things you can do with lights! Tomorrow we'll start on Christmas ornaments.

Planning early: Why you need to think of Christmas in January

Hello, Christmas fans. We all know the secret to a stress free holiday is to plan early. That's why I start planning the minute the season is 'over'. I'l admit, part of it is selfish: I want to be able to tell people that I absolutely do not celebrate Christmas early--I just don't stop. I have a collection of short sleeve Christmas shirts so I can wear them all year long!

Jokes aside, especially if you don't want to waste time trying to find the perfect gift or worrying about budget or scrambling on your DIYs, you want to start early. I recommend for the budget, especially, to start putting a Christmas fund aside as soon as your tax return comes in. Commit to about 3-5% of your income to gifts and you'll be in fine shape for the holidays. When you think of something someone might like, add it to an Amazon wishlist. Adding it to a list will also show you price drops if you check it once a month or so.

Here's my calendar--and don't worry! I'll post reminders throughout the year so you don't forget. Feel free to alter my plan so it fits your family!


Mid January: make a list of people I know and divide them into tiers (I have a three tier system that determines the time/effort/money I put into your cards and present. Mor to come on that later). Also buy clearance cards, decorations, and stickers.

February: Go to hobby lobby and buy cardmaking supplies

Monthly until September: make 1-3 Christmas cards a week, enter notes in my master Christmas notebook and review tiers to see if they need to be updated. Christmas movies weekly for inspiration. Update how I felt about the movie in my Christmas movies notebook.

September through November: Make any light up cards needed, order and wrap gifts. Tree and decorations go up on black Friday. Explain over and again it's not possible for me to be early for Christmas because I never stopped.

First week of December: Christmas baking for tier 3s

Second week of December: card and present distribution at work

Christmas: yay!

Boxing day through mid January: Fight with my mentor over decorations at my desk until she hides them.


There you go! A very basic and definitely NOT all inclusive guide to Christmas. Now, if you think the day after New Year's is too early to think about Christmas, well...you're welcome to stay but this blog is pretty much Christmas all year round.

Introduction

Hi! I'm Tangle, Head Hot Chocolate Elf for the South Pole. Together with Kristina, the author of this blog, I'd like to bring you a snippet of Christmas all year!

So what should you expect?

From Kristina, you'll find movie reviews, book reviews, all your usual DIY and Christmas hack stuff, and how to plan for the holidays to avoid stress.

From me and my fellow South Pole Elves, we'll let you in on the secrets of Christmas. You can ask us questions, or we'll share some fun Christmas stories from history, or share our very best Christmas recipes.

Merry Christmas! See you real soon!