Every year the village of Saanen puts on a Christmas Fair. They close down a portion of the main street to traffic and put up all kinds of stands full of beautiful Christmas 'stuff', most of it hand-made. A live band walks around the fair grounds making stops along the way to play a Christmas tune or two. And since we live in the village of Saanen, and since i love Christmas fairs and just about anything that has to do with Christmas, we're happy to attend every year. Last Friday was our second time.It was a brutally cold evening. My husband advised me to put on long johns under my pants to which i laughed but did it anyway and was i ever glad i did! Despite my long johns, jacket, boots, mitts, and hat, i could only brave the elements for just over half an hour. The good people of Saanen had built fires in special fire pits along the fair grounds with cauldrons of "glüwein" boiling over the fire and we made a stop at everyone of them, drinking glüwein and warming up by the fire. I still can't get the smell of smoke out of my jacket!
Glüwein is a traditional Swiss winter drink of boiled red wine spiced with .... well, everyone makes their own little different concoction but the main ingredients are cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and anise. It tastes like...like Christmas and it's hot, so it keeps you warm. So that was the reason behind our four cups of glüwein in the course of about 30 minutes! It went down fast and as soon as one cup was finished we quickly got another one lest we freeze. It helped only a little bit in keeping us warm but it did help tremendously in getting me drunk! By the time we got home i was belching Christmas carols at the top of my lungs!
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