Holiday Mimosa — A Toast to the Table, the Soup, and the Name

Thanksgiving full table, Will in high chair, Elise makes her she-crab soup close to perfect, blessing names everyone including Will. The week was the life. The life was the cooking. The cooking was the love. And the love was the week, and the week was one of the weeks that stack together to become the years, and the years become the life, and the life is the woman at the stove who cooks and writes and loves and does not stop.

I made she-crab soup on Sunday — the anchor, the constant, the practice. The soup was perfect. The perfection was the practice. And the practice continues, one Sunday at a time, one bowl at a time, one life at a time, the woman stirring, the roux thickening, the kitchen warm, the family fed, the love alive.

After the soup was ladled and the blessing was spoken — Will’s name among the others, new and small and beloved — there was a moment before the first spoonful where the table just held still. That’s the moment that needed something in a glass. I’ve made this Holiday Mimosa every Thanksgiving for years now, and it has become its own kind of anchor alongside the soup: bright and celebratory, just festive enough to mark that the ordinary Sunday has become something more. It’s the toast you raise when the week, the love, and the cooking all arrive at the same table at the same time.

Holiday Mimosa

Prep Time: 5 minutes | Cook Time: 0 minutes | Total Time: 5 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 2 cups chilled prosecco or dry champagne
• 1 cup chilled cranberry juice (100% juice preferred)
• 1/2 cup chilled fresh-squeezed orange juice
• 1/4 cup pomegranate arils, for garnish
• 4 fresh rosemary sprigs, for garnish
• Orange slices or twists, optional for garnish

Instructions

1. Chill your glasses. Place champagne flutes in the refrigerator or freezer for at least 10 minutes before serving so the mimosa stays cold and the bubbles hold longer.
2. Mix the juice base. In a small pitcher, stir together the cranberry juice and orange juice until combined. Keep refrigerated until ready to pour.
3. Pour the juice first. Fill each chilled flute about one-third of the way with the cranberry-orange juice mixture — roughly 2 to 3 tablespoons per glass.
4. Top with prosecco. Slowly pour the chilled prosecco over the juice, filling each flute to just below the rim. Pour gently and at an angle to preserve the bubbles.
5. Garnish and serve. Drop a small spoonful of pomegranate arils into each glass and tuck in a rosemary sprig along the rim. Add an orange twist if desired. Serve immediately.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 115 | Protein: 0g | Fat: 0g | Carbs: 12g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 10mg