Be of good cheer

It's Christmas Eve and the New Year is around the corner. Color your evenings with some festive drinks that will definitely lift spirits. Pauline D. Loh turns bartender.

Food and drinks. Good food will lose much of its appeal if it is not properly lubricated with the appropriate tipple. And when it's Christmas or New Year, you should brighten up the party with some rainbow colors in a glass.

When we were a lot younger, we always looked forward to the fruit punch at Christmas parties served in a huge crystal bowl with cups that hung on little hooks around the rim. There were lemon and lime slices floating on a luridly orange punch, often very sweet and syrupy and waiting for the block of ice in the middle to dilute it to a drinkable consistency.

We could never wait of course, and us kids were often sick with too much sugar before the party was even halfway through.

In college, the same punch bowl appeared, although the liquid refreshment in it was definitely more lethal, spiked as it was with whole bottles of rum or gin. That still made us sick before the party was over.

When we were old enough to throw our own parties, the punch bowl had been retired. In its place was the home bar with an assortment of sodas, tonic waters and colas to be judiciously mixed with gin, rum and vodka.

The cocktails were amusingly named, and we had fun with our Martinis, Sidecars, Screwdrivers and the ultimate Long Island Iced Tea - which had nothing to do with tea at all.

Now we are definitely older and wiser, and we hope, slightly more grown-up. We know that we should drink enough to get happy and that getting too high means you have to pay the price the morning after.

My cocktails follow the general trend. They are designed for the boozer as well as teetotalers. They are refreshing, delicious and safe enough to drink a few without dire consequences. And they are definitely light enough to last you through the party without keeling over.

As in all creative cooking, your imagination is the limit. The six cocktails that follow were put together with a generous bottle of Prosecco, the classic Italian bubbly, orange juice, cranberry juice, a large bottle of lime cordial and garnished with raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, and apple, lemon, lime and orange slices.

The result is a collection of festive cheer that's good enough to eat. Cheers!

You can email me with any questions at paulined@chinadaily.com.cn.