🎄Joy to the world (but mostly Philly) | Morning Newsletter

It’s that time of year to again get serious about drinks with warming seasonal spices and sweets (cookies, all of the cookies.) We have recommendations and plenty of stories about other ways to enjoy the season in our holiday edition.

I also tapped some of our colleagues to bring you what they recommend to live more festively, more deliciously, and more Philly. (Taylor will be back with all the big news tomorrow!)

— Ashley Hoffman (@_AshleyHoffman, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

🎤 Now I’m handing the mic over to Mike Klein, who gifts us a special cookie edition of our weekly Let’s Eat newsletter.

My colleague Jenn Ladd gathered 12 recipes from Philly bakers and social media that are both approachable and intriguing additions to your holiday dessert table. You can make these glazed alfajores from Argentina-born Jezabel Careaga at West Philly’s Jezabel’s Cafe however you please — with apricot jam, or fig jam, or dulce de leche, or membrillo in the middle. No one’s fillings will be hurt.

Bonus! We offer 12 additional cookie recipes, shared by Philly notables for our Inquirer cookie swap last year. You need to try Eli Kulp’s Italian fig cookies, known as cuccidati, or perhaps writer/comedian Alyssa Al-Dookhi’s Middle Eastern shortbread cookies, called ghraybehs. There’s even one that requires the use of “nice, sexy chocolate bars.”

Keep reading for the full cookie edition of Let’s Eat.

Hira Qureshi talked to people behind Philly’s bars to find out what’s in their shakers for the holiday season.

After checking Hira’s list twice these tipples sound so whimsical.

There’s the Olde Bar G+T, a refreshingly cool drink that gets heat from canella (Mexican cinnamon) and a pink peppercorn-spiced quinine syrup (derived from a Peruvian shrub). She also highlights a cranberry drink called the Cran Drescher, if you’d like to toast to the flashy girl from Flushing, R&D’s espresso martini-ish drink with Japanese whiskey, and one concoction that sounds like THE TICKET: Egg Nog that Qureshi describes as “a boozy iced cinnamon bun served in a Nick and Nora glass.” Sold.

Keep reading for the full list of great places for winter craft cocktails.

🎁 We’ve compiled all the Philly gift guides for every (deserving) individual on your list.

🎀 The bars and restaurants that have decked their halls.

🥡 Ditch your stove and get holiday takeout for Hanukkah (latkes!), the Seven Fishes (seafood salad!), Christmas Day (Peking duck!), and New Year’s Eve.

✨ For some visual spectacle, see the best holiday light shows in Philly.

🚜 Check out these 16 tree farms around the Philly region.

🎄 And here’s where to order your Christmas tree if you’d like it to be delivered.

✈️ Smooth out the inevitably challenging process that is holiday travel in 2022 with our travel tips, whether you’re flying out of PHL or taking Amtrak or SEPTA.

🛍️ 21 holiday markets in the Philly area.

🍷 “I really enjoy going to the Christmas Village at least once every holiday season when my family visits me this time of year. I need to get the mulled wine every time.” — Taylor Allen, who you of course know is the newsletter editor here. (Seems like a must!)

☕ My favorite holiday tradition in Philadelphia is hitting up Christmas Village, grabbing a mug of mulled wine or hot cocoa, and strolling around to browse every single stand in the market. I always find great gifts for family and friends from local makers and businesses. — Astrid Rodrigues, lead video producer and editor.

☕ “Looking to avoid crowds from Center City’s Christmas Village? Take the BSL down to Federal, and walk to The Rim Cafe (11th Street) for some legendary hot chocolate while checking out the quirky decor based on Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather. Then head down for a stroll on Miracle on 13th Street — “an offer you can’t refuse.” Have a car and a big family? Pile on in and drive to Shadybrook Farm in Yardley to see the Holiday Lightshow. It’s only $50 for a truck or minivan, so bring a big car and snacks!” — Nicole Henninger, senior user researcher.

🍅 “For my family, the Christmas celebration usually lasts the entire week until New Year’s. And while when I was a kid that might have meant going to see the Wanamaker’s light show or a trip up to Peddler’s Village, that’s now been replaced by more relaxing nights at home with the family — and lot’s of Marchiano’s stromboli. That’s one tradition that isn’t going anywhere.”— Matt Mullin, digital editor.

🍪 As for me (Ashley, yours truly, the newsletter strategist,) after being in Europe for two weeks, I’m relaxing at home like Matt. The day I got back from Italy, the Rocky YoMos guys went above and beyond to bring me the city’s tallest Fraser fir from a Pennsylvania farm so I could get in the spirit right away, and I’ve been making snowman boards and candy cane capreses with Mancuso’s cheese. For the rest of the month, I’m determined to make all of the cookies from the recent Let’s Eat edition we feature above.

What are those festively decorated SEPTA cars called?

A) yuletide rides

B) jolly trolleys

C) holiday cars

D) tinsel trains

Find out if you remember the answer.

LAMBA LOTZ

The party where lots of Jewish singles get down on Christmas Eve. Email us if you know the answer.

It’s worth reading a very telling photo essay about holiday windows in 2022.

🎶 For Sunday’s track, I’m listening to “we’re snuggled up together like two birds of a feather would be.” 🎶

👋🏽 As they say on “Christmas Alley” in old Napoli, Buon Natale.