Hot Mulled Apple Cider for Christmas

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone is enjoying a peaceful and happy day with your families. John and I spent a wonderful two days with both of our families and ate lots of good food along the way. I wanted to share a delicious family recipe that we have had every year at almost every Christmas Eve or Day, including this one. It's also almost always present on New Year's Eve. Here's our recipe for a delicious Hot Mulled Apple Cider:

2 quarts apple cider (this year I bought a gallon of fresh cider, but you can use any kind you like)
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
4 cinnamon sticks
1/8 tsp plus a pinch of ground ginger
1 Tablespoon whole cloves
1 orange, clementine or tangerine, washed but not peeled

Pour the cider into a large sauce pan, or a slow cooker. I almost always go with the slow cooker because you can leave the cider to warm all day, and the ingredients really start to meld the longer they cook. Add the brown sugar, cinnamon sticks and ginger. Cut the washed orange into 4 or 5 slices and insert whole cloves into the segments of the orange slices. Add the cloved orange slices to the cider, cover and cook on low for several hours. Serve piping hot with an extra cinnamon stick.

Enjoy and have a very Merry Christmas!