The Christmas holidays are in full swing! To combat pandemic cabin fever, we are choosing to be “snowed in” this Christmas with all of our favourite things. Check out Date Ideas Canada’s Best Of Christmas list, chock full of our recommendations to make the most of the holidays while “all snuggled up at home in your beds.” We hope that some of these movies, music, games and culinary picks will be some of your favourites too!
Christmas Movies
Christmas movies are a tricky topic to tackle (say that 3 times fast!) as nostalgia plays a big part in what brings us joy on the screen at this time of year. I mean, who doesn’t remember these two with great fondness?
Now, we think everyone can agree that these are classic go-tos for your Christmas date night:
Elf
Classic Buddy line…
“First, we’ll make snow angels for two hours, then we’ll go ice skating, then we’ll eat a whole roll of Tollhouse cookie dough as fast as we can, and then we’ll snuggle.”
Love Actually
Best unspoken line…
“To Me, You Are Perfect” 🥰
Christmas Vacation
There are SO many classic lines in this one….
“Hallelujah! Holy sh*t! Where’s the Tylenol?”
Christmas Music
We love Christmas music! It starts in our houses even before the tree goes up. And luckily, there is always a great selection of new releases each year to go along with the old classics and best sellers.
NEW RELEASES that stand out for us in 2020 are Carrie Underwood’s My Gift and The Happiest Season soundtrack.
CHRISTMAS TRACKS – Our all-time favourites have to be these 3 brilliant holiday hits:
Peace On Earth / Little Drummer Boy
- Nothing says Christmas like the timeless voice of Bing Crosby. Then you blend it with the beauty of David Bowie and THAT’s Christmas magic!
- Last Christmas by Wham – this is so good they made a whole movie around it!!
- This track by the ever-classy Frank Sinatra has to be the best version of Jingle Bells ever…swingin’!!!
CHRISTMAS ALBUMS – These are our picks for the best classic albums of all time!!!
- For us, the original 1987 A Very Special Christmas will always be on the turntable in December. The album was created to benefit Special Olympics and has raised millions for the charity, along with their 9-holiday collections that followed. How can you possibly go wrong with the likes of U2, Madonna, Whitney Houston, Eurythmics, and many, many more outstanding artists?
- This one may be controversial, but we stand behind it – because Dolly and Kenny and Christmas go hand in hand! It would be a Hard Candy Christmas without it.
- The ultimate Christmas album has to be this beloved 1964 classic that young and old around the world will know!
We’ve got you covered with most of these tracks and many more on our Date Ideas Canada Christmas Kisses playlist on Spotify.
Game ON!!
Rolling the dice and moving 2 squares ahead to Board Games we love to play at Christmas, first up is Chess. If you’ve watched The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix you will be as caught up in the Chess craze as we are! There’s no better opportunity to learn than now with all this time on your hands. Check out this beautiful board from Umbra on Amazon.
How about a little Heads-Up Texas Hold ‘Em poker? Mix in some 5-Card Draw and 7-Card Stud, or Pot-Limit Omaha. All of these are great 2-player poker games. This unique Canoe Poker Set from Indigo is great for the cottage. Don’t forget your p-p-p-poker face and your 😎 !
Lastly, if one of you was lucky enough to receive the new PlayStation 5 Console over the holidays 😉 you might want to spend an evening hitting the court with NBA 2k21 – the next generation of basketball. Maybe a little Sackboy: A Big Adventure is more your style for the evening. Either way, these are great collaborative multi-player games that you can get into together.
Holiday Bake-Off!
You should both come armed with your favourite Christmas treat recipe. Along with that, have all the supplies needed to create your ultimate holiday bake, bundled up in a neat little package and ready to hand over to your date…wait…WHAT? That’s right, you will create their favourite holiday recipe and they will bake yours!!!
St. Nick’s Nuts
Stuck for an easy, soon-to-be-favourite Yuletide recipe? Try these yummy candied Christmas nuts.
Ingredients
| • 3 egg whites • 2 tablespoons water • 3 cups walnut halves • 2 cups pecan halves • 1 cup whole almonds • 2 cups sugar • 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon |
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger • 2 teaspoons grated orange peel • 1 teaspoon salt • 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg • 1 teaspoon ground allspice • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves |
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 300°F.
2. In a mixing bowl, beat egg whites and water until frothy.
3. Add nuts and stir gently to coat.
4. Combine remaining ingredients.
5. Add to nut mixture and stir gently to coat.
6. Spread evenly onto 2 greased baking sheets.
7. Bake uncovered for 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring every 10 minutes.
8. Cool completely and store in an airtight container.
Santa Juice! (aka Eggnog)
Why not make your own Eggnog? It’s actually pretty easy to put together, and whatever Christmas cheer you decide to add to it is entirely up to you – no judgement here. In fact, we encourage it!! 🎅🏽 🥛 🍪
Ingredients
• 6 large egg yolks
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 cups milk
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• pinch of salt
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ground cinnamon, for topping
• optional – tipple of Brandy, Spiced Rum or Peppermint Schnapps 😊
Directions
1. Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a medium bowl until light and creamy.
2. In a saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the cream, milk, nutmeg and salt. Stir often until mixture reaches a low simmer.
3. Add a big spoonful of the hot milk to the egg mixture, whisking vigorously. Repeat, adding a big spoonful at a time, to temper the eggs.
4. Once most of the hot milk has been added to the eggs, pour the mixture back into the saucepan on the stove.
5. Whisk constantly for just a few minutes, until the mixture is just slightly thickened (or until it reaches about 160° F on a thermometer). It will thicken more as it cools.
6. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.
7. Pour the eggnog into a pitcher or other container and cover with plastic wrap.
8. Refrigerate until chilled. It will thicken as it cools. If you want a thinner, completely smooth consistency, you can add the entire mixture to a blender with 1 or 2 tablespoons of milk and blend until smooth.
9. Serve with a sprinkle of cinnamon and fresh whipped cream, if desired.
10. Store homemade eggnog in the fridge for up to one week.
Serves 6
Happy Holidays!
We hope you’ve enjoyed reading our Best of Christmas list. Let us know what some of your favourite things to do at this time of the year are in the comments section below.
Enjoy the great indoors and Happiest of Holidays from all of us at Date Ideas Canada. 💖
