Welp… another year in the books–though I won’t say it was one for the books. Not for writing them or reading them… or for any metaphysical personal ledger, really. But it has really been a year.

Reviewing what I wrote one year ago, I still must get some thrill out of shouting into the void, and I still, for better or worse, agree with Ms. Parker, as some of the best days this past year were best not because they were spent writing, but because they finished with the sense of having written.

I’m looking forward to more days like that, even if you, dear reader, might not know it for a while. I am not looking forward to another year like this last one, with just too darn many realizations I didn’t want to realize, and fewer and fewer who want to realize it all with me….

Which reminds me of a great line from a less-than-great film. It’s delivered by all-time great Gloria Grahame to the equally great Robert Mitchum: “They always warn you about solitary drinking,” she laments, “but they never tell you how to get people to stay up and drink with you.”

In case there’s any question, I’m Gloria here.

I could go on (and, somewhere else, I’m sure I will), but as that quote affirms, we are here for the drinks! I might only just crack open a beer myself, but I will share the recipe I concocted for Christmas, when I wanted another film reference—the “flaming rum punch” Clarence orders before getting tossed out of the Pottersville Martini’s in It’s a Wonderful Life—but I didn’t have oranges or overproof rum. I drank this instead:

1 oz White Rum
1 oz Dark Rum
3/4 oz Calvados
1/2 oz Napoleon Brandy
1/2 oz Port
Dash Almond Extract
1/4 oz Simple Syrup
1/2 oz Sour Cherry Syrup
1/2 oz Tart Cherry Juice
1/2 oz Black Cherry Juice

Place all ingredients in a shaker with ice & shake vigorously. Decant into two chilled Nick & Nora glasses. Garnish each with a Luxardo cherry and a sprinkle of cinnamon powder.

OK, no more links, just more drinks! Feel free to google me, if you dare; follow me, if you please. Celebrate, if you can.

Bob’s your uncle!