The Wassail Bowl was sometimes composed of ale instead of wine; with nutmeg, sugar, toast, ginger, and roasted crabs; in this way the nut-brown beverage is still prepared in some old families, and round the hearths of substantial farmers at Christmas. It is also called Lambs' Wool, and is celebrated by Herrick in his "Twelfth Night:"

 

 

       "Next crowne the bowle full

        With gentle Lambs' Wool,

     Add sugar, nutmeg, and ginger,

        With store of ale too;

        And thus ye must doe

     To make the Wassaile a swinger."

(Return to The Christmas Dinner)