My husband doesn’t have a ton of free time. Work speaks for most of his waking hours, which is a choice and totally fine…and I notice that when he does have time on his hands, he wants to complicate things. Most things. For example, on Sunday we were on a walk when he mentioned that he would like to stop for a drink. Okay, great. Manhattans and wine had already been imbibed that weekend…sangria, he declares, sangria is what he wants. I suggest half a dozen places I know with sangria on our street and the next thing I know, we are at the grocery store making sure we have all of the ingredients to make sangria at home.

And you know what? He was absolutely right to have use make it from scratch and I offer you sangria as an alternative cocktail this week of Christmas. It makes a big batch, using apples and pears (ooh! or pomegranate! use pomegranate!) makes it more seasonal than say, pineapple or strawberries and I think a cinnamon stick as a stirrer would be enough to make Aunt Thelma abandon her post at the fruitcake.

The moral of the story: sangria is not complicated and not just for summer. And let your husband make things involving cocktails (slightly) complicated.

Winter Sangria

1 bottle dry red wine

1 1/2 Cups brandy

1/2 Cup Triple Sec or Grand Marnier

Splash 7Up

Pears, Apples and/or Pomegranate

combine in a pitcher, adjust to taste, garnish with cinnamon sticks.