The Countdown to Christmas starts here…

I was born and raised a Catholic which, naturally, meant attending Catholic school. Which in turn meant that the countdown to Christmas only really started with the lighting of the first candle on the Advent wreath to a rousing chorus of “The Angel Gabriel From Heaven Came”.

Many years, and a serious lapse, later and it’s a slightly more secular event that launches the run up to the Most Wonderful Time of the Year ™. You may already have guessed if you’ve been out and about this week….yep, it’s the Starbucks red cups. And, more specifically in my case, the consumption of the first gingerbread latte of the year.

As a general rule, I like my coffee black and strong and don’t go in for the milky confections that they sell on the high street (although I have recently developed a slight obsession for the Flat White). But a gingerbread latte as sickly and rich as it may be…even thinking about it makes me want to start humming a Christmas carol. I can’t wait to have one later this week. Possibly in lieu of breakfast. I’m also hoping, probably in vain, that Starbucks decide to bring back the cranberry bliss bars that they sold a good few Christmases ago now and which were a gorgeous, dense cross between a cake and a biscuit, with sharp little pockets of dried cranberries and a drizzle of white chocolate. So if the Starbucks’ Santa happens to be listening….?

One tall, skinny gingerbread latte with no whipped cream (in my opinion, no adult drink with the possible exception of hot chocolate should be topped with whipped cream) will cost you 2 WW points (although, of course, this is all set to change come the launch of Pro Points) which is a lot less than a mince pie and, in my opinion, no less festive.