Christmas Punch!

Every year, I tell you about our traditional Christmas Punch after the fact.  That doesn't help if you want an absolutely terrific breakfast/brunch/lunch/all day punch, though.  So this year I'm thinking just a teeny bit ahead.

I cam up with this punch as a special beverage to go with our traditional sugar overload on Christmas morning, which buys my dearly beloved precious time to down a pot or 2 of coffee before the present frenzy begins.  Everyone just loves it; incidentally, my future son-in-law is coming for his first ever Christmas morning here, and Shannon is certain he's going to be delighted by the sheer volume of sugar he can consume before the day really starts!

MARJIE'S CHRISTMAS PUNCH

12 ounce can frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
1 can cold water
1 bottle (2 liter sized) Diet Cranberry Ginger Ale, cold
2-3 bananas, sliced
1/2 pound frozen strawberries, still frozen
dollops of whipped cream

Pour the orange juice concentrate in the punch bowl, and add one can cold water.  Pour the Diet Cranberry Ginger ale in the punch bowl, pouring first directly into the orange juice to combine, and then down the sides to retain some carbonation.  Slice and add the bananas, if desired, and the frozen strawberries (which replace ice to keep it cold).  Drop whipped cream over the top, stir lightly with the ladle once or twice, and serve.

Makes one large punch bowl full.  Note: plan to make twice as much as you think you'll need.  We routinely finish 4 bowls, plus coffee, tea or hot cocoa, with our confections before presents.  We then usually have another 2 bowls after presents.  Because the soda is diet, it's fairly low calorie (and I eat much of the fruit which is floating in it).  It has a great tang.

Of course, I can't find a picture of the punch, so here's one of the family at Christmas breakfast a couple of years back, with the punch bowl at the end closest to me (and another at the other end of the table).  It's likely we were on punch bowls #3 and #4 by the time this picture was taken.

Happy Thorsday, everyone!