Before my mom passed away, she took all her most-used recipes and designed two sets of recipe cards — one for me and one for my brother. This time of year I find myself using so many of our family recipes. It’s such a Southern thing — seeking comfort in food, seeking memories in food.

I was originally going to put this in with the “recipes” category, but then I got to thinking and remembering all the years we have had Mom’s Christmas punch, all the get-togethers and family Christmases we have toasted with this punch. Since this recipe gives me all the feels, I put it under “soulful stuff”, because here lately I am feeling super nostalgic and thinking of Christmases of years gone by.

Here is Mom’s recipe for the Christmas punch she made every year. Now that my parents are gone, it’s now my brother’s job to make the punch (which he does without fail because he’s the best brother ever).