Lola Seymour’s Eggnog

Thad’s grandmother Lola grew up in West Virginia and moved to New York City with her new husband Whit in the early 1920’s. Despite the restrictions of Prohibition, Lola used a variation of her father’s family recipe to make gallons of eggnog each December and served it to friends who stopped by their Greenwich Village apartment on Christmas afternoon (see invitation below). When grandfather Whit took a job with the federal government in the early 1930’s their gatherings were curtailed (see R.I.P. below) before resuming after Prohibition was repealed in 1933. Since then, the eggnog tradition has been passed down through multiple generations of Seymours using Lola’s potent recipe, as the photos below attest.

Enjoy in small quantities with a sprinkle of ground nutmeg, and be sure to offer a toast to Lola.

Merry Christmas!

Variations of Lola’s invitation below were used each Christmas. The origins of the crest are unknown, but if you look carefully you can see that the quadrants of the crest contain: eggs, cream, sugar, and whiskey. The legend, adapted from the motto of the Order of the Garter, reads: "Shame on anyone who thinks evil of egg nogg.”