My favorite holiday tradition has always been the Carol Sing the Monday before Christmas.  My parents invited everyone in town over to sing Christmas Carols, eat Christmas Cookies, and have the Merry Christmas Punch aka Wassil Bowl.  It was all pure joy!

The making of the Wassil Bowl would start days before, with the slow cooking of fruit and spices, with the aroma filling the house.  My job was always the putting of one clove in each section of the lemon and orange slices, and leave them to float in the simmering pot of flavors that filled the house.   A few years ago it was time to make the Wassil Bowl, and my mother opened her cookbook and pulled out a tattered, stained page with what was left of the recipe.  60 years in the making.  If you can make out the ingredients its worth the effort to make, however the mysterious ingredient , Sucaryl, definitely dates the recipe and thankfully has a substitute!