A couple Christmas' ago my now Mother-in-law bought be a beer making kit. It was only a 1 gallon kit to see if I liked it and it came with a holiday beer kit. Since it took a month to brew I saved it for the following Christmas and made it. Huge success, the company the kit was from has since stopped selling the holiday ale in 1 gallon kits, and my local home brew place only sells 5 gallon kits, so in my search to make some beer for when we have everyone over for hosting Christmas Day. I found Festivus Miracle, and being a Seinfeld fan I had to get it and make it.
The first kit I used was all grains and there were a ton of steps to do and was better if you had an extra set of hands. This kit was a malt extract, much much easier if anyone plans on trying to brew beer without an extra set of hands. Boil for 45 minutes, cool, put into fermentor with some yeast and wait 2 weeks before bottling. I boiled the wort (unfermented beer) on Saturday, and in 10-14 days it will be ready to bottle when my Brother-in-Law comes into town for Thanksgiving. He will help me bottle the 8-12 12oz bottles you get from a gallon.
I did end up getting a 5 gallon kit because of how easy the extract kits are to make, and that way I can make beers for special occasions (brother-in-law's wedding) or even some to perfectly pair with any BBQ I plan on cooking for when we have people over.
Box it came in:
Wort boiling away
Fermenting:
I will post more pictures of the bottling process, and around Christmas time I will post a pour cold glass of the Festivus Miracle Holiday Ale