Apologies to those of you who’ve had your Christmas tree up since Election Day, but the holiday season didn’t officially start until Friday, as in the day after Thanksgiving.  Now that the season is in full swing, I have two recipes guaranteed to keep you warm through the wintry weeks ahead.

The first is my Uncle Al’s holiday glug, which, as far as I’m concerned, outshone the turkey and the pumpkin pie combined at our family’s Thanksgiving feast.  A mug of glug will do just fine; two will do finer than that.

In a Crock-Pot or any old big pot, mix a bottle of port (my uncle recommends Taylor’s), a bottle of dry sherry, and a half-bottle of whiskey or brandy.  Throw in three or four sticks of cinnamon, a bunch of raisins, some cardamom pods, cloves, and sliced almonds.  Heat the concoction on high until it starts to simmer and sift in ¼ cup or so of sugar.  Adjust the ingredients to suit your tastes; start by adding more booze.

The second recipe would make a perfect choice for a late breakfast the day after you’ve had a few mugs of glug — a grilled peanut butter, bacon, and banana sandwich.  I’m proud to say I thought of this one on my own, although I soon discovered that I had not invented it.  In fact, Elvis is known to have wolfed down as many as a dozen of these sandwiches in a single feeding, and you can find recipes all over the Internet.  This sandwich is Heaven-sent, a salty-sweet dream loaded full of carbs, protein, and fat, a perfectly balanced masterpiece, a tribute to gluttony.

At any rate, fry a pound of bacon until it’s extra crispy and set it aside.  Smear a slice of bread with peanut butter, fairly thick.  Add a layer of banana slices and then five or six slices of bacon.  Spread a little more peanut butter on the second piece of bread, finish building the sandwich, and squish it together.  Coat the bottom of another frying pan with some of the bacon grease and fry the sandwich in it on medium heat until both sides are golden brown and the peanut butter is gooey.  Repeat until all the bacon is gone.

If it takes you more than four or five bites to finish each sandwich, something is wrong.