hot cocoa

My family loves hot cocoa.  We especially love homemade hot cocoa.
We didn't make any last year so it has been on our winter list for more than a year.
Every time I'd bring it up, my kids would go into panic mode.
Seems a little strange to the rest of the world but to my kids making homemade hot cocoa mix is traumatic.

The back story - we made homemade hot cocoa mix for our teachers 2 years ago for Christmas.  As I was pushing the lid on one of the last glass jars, we had a little mishap and I completely mutilated my finger.  Completely.  As in I cut through everything but the bone.  It required 2 surgeries and 6 months of rehab to get some use out of my finger.  Unfortunately for my poor kids, Hannah and Eli had to be the grown-ups and accompany me to the ER.  They will NEVER forget this experience.  If you have a weak stomach, close your eyes for this pic.

Pretty, huh?

Anywho, I really wanted my kids to have fond memories of making hot cocoa so I was determined to get them over this traumatic hurdle.

Sophie and Lawson to the rescue!

It's a little easier to be brave with your friends.

We spent an afternoon making a mess hot cocoa mix.  I worked really hard to let them do all the work and to enjoy the fun.  That's pretty hard for an overbearing perfectionist but I'm learning that the process is way more important than the final product.  I should have learned this 2 kids ago!

Hot Cocoa Mix (borrowed from Kendall Smith):

1 box (2lb 12 oz) powdered milk

1 box (2 lb) Nestlequik chocolate mix

1 bag (2 lb) powdered sugar

1 jar (1 lb) non-dairy creamer

Mix together in a very LARGE bowl because it makes LOTS!

Thank you, Melissa, for the very cool bowl.  She loaned it to us for the ice bucket for a birthday party.  We used it for the hot cocoa mix before we returned it to Melissa.  Funny thing - she doesn't want it back now :)

So, the only fingers that made it into this mix were the cute little ones attached to the kids' hands.  Yes, they licked them a lot and then stuck them back in.  Yes, it's gross but they had a great time.  My theory is that the mix is added to boiling water before we drink it so any cooties will be killed before we drink it.  Yes, Lawson touched chewed up bubble gum in the Walmart parking lot before we shopped for the ingredients.  I'm pretty sure he washed his hands before we started mixing :)

I really, really wanted the cool 1 gallon glass jars for the mix.  Abi pretty much went into meltdown at Walmart so we bought the plastic jars so there wouldn't be the risk of an injury.  The process is more important than the final product, remember? 
Every jar of hot cocoa mix should be decorated with lots of love and creativity.  Remember - the process is way more important than the final product!

Add a fun little scoop and a bag of vanilla snowman marshmallows and you've got all sorts of yummy goodness.

And lots of fun memories!