You know how everyone's in charge of bringing something for family holiday meals? This is an odd year for me - I was given drinks (we don't drink alcohol at our family gatherings) and a rice dish to go along with enchiladas. I tried, but I just couldn't do it - being the overachiever that I am, I just couldn't bring sodas and rice, so to add festiveness to the occasion, I went to Home Goods - if you've never been in a Home Goods store - oh, my! Home Goods is my absolute favorite store and they have deep, deep markdowns on their products. I had fun looking for everyone in my family a nice stemmed glass - I found one to fit each person's personality - now to explain to them why I picked each one and not to offend...black and white checks, for my nephew, Chris, who you don't start a difficult conversation with because you'll never win, me - blue with swirls - don't know why - it just spoke to me, a beautiful dark red one for my sister, Nancy - she loves red, one with leaves on it for my mom...

To have a special drink, I found a recipe for Sparkling Holiday Punch I'd like to share. My mom is diabetic, so I was able to find low sugar or no sugar added items to make the punch. I bought some red sugar to place around the rims (OK, maybe not on Mom's glass).

Sparkling Holiday Punch

Mix 2 cups cranberry juice, 2 cups pineapple juice and 1/2 cup sugar in a large punch bowl. Add sliced limes and fresh cranberries (I'm traditional so I'm using red and green). Add a bottle of sparkling apple juice or ginger ale. Serves 6-8.