By I passed. I passed everything. Every class, every exam, every lab. Final GPA for semester one: 3.8. A 3.8. That number — I keep looking at it on the grade portal, refreshing the page like it might change, like someone might realize they made a mistake. They didn't. It's real. 3.8. Sarah Mitchell, who graduated high school with a 2.8 and spent six years at a Waffle House, just finished her first semester of college with a 3.8.
Tanisha passed too. She called me screaming. I called Mama screaming. Mama called Kevin and told him calmly, because Lorraine doesn't scream, she administers news with the gravity it deserves, and then she goes to the kitchen and makes a cake, which is exactly what she did. Another cake. Another number on top. "3.8" in white icing. The Mitchell family now celebrates academic milestones exclusively through sheet cake. It's a tradition I invented and I'm keeping.
Chloe's Christmas program was Thursday. She stood on stage in a white dress Mama found at Goodwill and she said her line: "And the star shone over Bethlehem." Clear, loud, perfect. The whole audience could hear her. She looked at me when she said it, and for one second the school gymnasium disappeared and it was just me and my daughter and a star over Bethlehem and everything that star represents — hope, light, the promise that something better is coming.
I bought the Christmas tree. December 16th, from the lot on Nolensville Pike, marked down to $15. It's about four feet tall and it leans slightly to the left and it is the most beautiful tree I have ever seen. Chloe and I decorated it with ornaments from Dollar Tree and popcorn strings that Jayden kept eating and candy canes that Jayden also kept eating. The tree looks like it was decorated by a four-year-old and a woman running on sheet cake and relief. It was. It's perfect.
I can't afford much for Christmas. I know that. The kids know that, in the way kids know things — they feel the edges without seeing the shape. But I've been saving $20 a week from tips since October, and I have $160, and that's enough for each kid to have something to unwrap. Chloe wants an Elsa doll (of course). Jayden wants... well, Jayden wants to eat shoes and climb furniture, but I got him a Little Tikes basketball hoop that was on clearance at Target. $160. Three presents. A tree that leans. A 3.8. This is going to be a good Christmas.
I made hot chocolate from scratch this week. Not the packet kind — the real kind. Milk, cocoa powder, sugar, a pinch of salt, a splash of vanilla. Heated on the stove in a pot, poured into mugs, topped with mini marshmallows. Chloe said, "This tastes like the fancy kind." It IS the fancy kind, baby. It's also the cheap kind, because a can of cocoa powder costs $2 and lasts all winter. Rich and poor are the same thing in a mug of hot chocolate. That's the magic of December.
That mug of hot chocolate — Chloe’s face when she said it tasted fancy — got me thinking about how to push it even further for the holidays. I had a jar of Nutella in the cabinet, and it occurred to me that if plain cocoa could feel like a gift, Nutella stirred in would feel like a whole Christmas morning. Here’s the version I’ve been making since, and I promise it’s just as simple.
Nutella Double Hot Chocolate
Prep Time: 2 minutes | Cook Time: 8 minutes | Total Time: 10 minutes | Servings: 2
Ingredients
- 2 cups whole milk (or 2% milk)
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 pinch of fine salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons Nutella (one per mug)
- Mini marshmallows, for topping
Instructions
- Combine the dry ingredients. In a small saucepan, whisk together the cocoa powder, sugar, and salt until evenly blended. This prevents lumps from forming when the milk goes in.
- Warm the milk. Pour in the milk and place the saucepan over medium heat. Whisk constantly as the milk heats —do not let it boil. Heat just until steaming, about 5 to 6 minutes.
- Add the vanilla. Remove the pan from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.
- Add the Nutella. Spoon one tablespoon of Nutella into each mug. Pour the hot cocoa directly over it, then stir well until the Nutella is fully dissolved and swirled into the chocolate. The second hit of chocolate is what makes it “double.”
- Top and serve. Pile on the mini marshmallows. Serve immediately while hot.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 285 | Protein: 9g | Fat: 11g | Carbs: 38g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 135mg