Regular people spend their winter baking snickerdoodle cookies or building gingerbread houses. But, I, on the other hand, decided to make eggnog from scratch—because clearly, I like making my life difficult! 

The recipe looked pretty simple: milk, sugar, egg yolks, nutmeg, salt and some vanilla. How hard could it be? After three eggs and several Google searches later, I realized I had underestimated the difficulty of holiday drinks.

What was supposed to be a warm and cozy drink became a sticky, lumpy substance that definitely did not look like eggnog. The smell of defeat and melted ice cream filled the kitchen. My twin brother walked by at one point, looked at the stove, and asked if I was making scrambled eggs—wow! Thanks, Matthew. 

After a few failed attempts, I finally managed to make something semi-drinkable. I poured it into a mug and took a sip. To my surprise, it actually tasted… kind of good?? A little thick, a little too sweet, but – hey, that’s progress. 

So, I learned my lesson: making eggnog is way harder than it looks, but worth the chaos—once a year. Next time, though, I might just buy it from the store. My sanity and kitchen will thank me.