Gift Mixes?

[hillbillycowgirl]

<font color="purple">With the holidays coming I got to thinking that gift mixes might be an idea for a cheap and quick salution, (considering I'll have just moved onto our new place, and will be trying to get settled in) So, I was wondering if anyone could recomend any web sites or books that provide a large variety of recipes for gift mixes.</font color>

Here is sort of a gift mix/basket that I sometimes give to friends just as a winter/cold pick me up
<font color="red"> Hot Toddy Tea </font color>
<font color="brown"> 1 tea cup per person
one package of Lemon Tea bags
1 bottle/jar honey
1 dozen Cinnamon sticks
small jar/baggy of whole cloves

add one tea bag, one cinnamon stick, and three whole cloves to cup and steap as normal. Add honey to taste.</font color>
<font color="red"> This is a great alternative to the alcohol version of the Hot Toddy and great for a sore throats too </font color>
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[LazyJ_Arabians]

I believe mistletoe grows in most of Missouri, the Ozarks are famous for it. Some of my city slicker friends in distant locals are always thrilled to get a fresh stem in the mail. Should look cool garnishing a basket too. I'm assuming a hillbilly cowgirl would have no trouble shinnying up an ol' gnarly blackjack oak to harvest a peck?

[hillbillycowgirl]

climbing trees used to be my specialty as a child in Michigan and Ohio, but have been out of practice since moving here to the desert (trees have thorns here [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img] ). However, I bet I can get these ol' legs limbered up enough to worry those oak trees some [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[opie744]

I don't know if I have ever seen REAL mistletoe?? [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img]

[Pat]

First, a question:

With all the regulations nowadays can a private party mail/ship mistletoe without any sort of inspections or legal problems?

You can buy a sample on the internet for $0.99 and it is such a part of some of our traditions you should have some of the real thing at least once.

Everything tends to get watered down like a xerox copy of a xerox copy of a xerox copy BUT the original custom was to hang female mistletoe (with berries) over the door and collect a kiss from folks "caught under the mistletoe." After each kiss you remove a berry and when the berries were all gone the mistletoe was just a decoration.

Nowadays folks don't often observe the old tradition and use male or female plants and don't let the "magic" expire.

We have oodles and oodles of mistletoe in these parts.

For those who may not be familiar with mistletoe it is a photosynthesizing plant, a parasite that grows on a number of different tree species. Mistletoe plants are either male or female. The female plant will produce berries, and the male plant will produce pollen. The berries can be very toxic if consumed by children, or pets. It gets its nourishment from the host plant but performs its own photosynthesis (has green leaves). It retains a nice appearance for quite a while when collected and displalyed indoors.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[opie744]

I had no idea what the whole tradition was!!! [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img] I love that, come christmas I'm going to try and find Real mistletoe on the internet and tell my kids the WHOLE tradition. Its so sad that stuff like that does get lost. My parents aren't big on holidays so there is alot of traditions that I haven't heard of. I go All out for holidays but cause I want my girls to ENJOY the holidays. Thanks for sharing that!!!!! [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Bird]

Of course, I was well aware of the old tradition of getting a kiss from anyone under the mistletoe, but hadn't heard of the tradition of removing a berry after each kiss. Learn something new all the time.