Step into the Ochal house in Arcade on Christmas Day, and you’ll hear traditional sounds—like the yelling and laughing from the group gathered around the Wii video game.

You’ll also breathe in traditional scents — like the cinnamon, cardamom and orange peel aromas wafting from a slowly simmering cauldron of fortified spiced wine called glogg.

Wintertime holidays are the perfect time for warming drinks that outshine coffee for memorable flavor. A bowl of warm drink is a gathering place inside the celebration itself, not to mention filling the house with the unmistakable fragrance of someone who was waiting for loved ones to appear.

Alcoholic drinks—glogg or mulled wine—get much of the attention, but others, such as deluxe cinnamon-caramel hot chocolate, or Indian spiced tea, don’t need liquor to evoke wonder.

For 11 years, ever since the family Christmas celebration moved to her place, Marie Ochal has made glogg. Red Bordeaux, or claret, is fortified with sherry, brandy, sugar and spices, plus almonds and raisins, simmering for two hours or so before guests arrive.

The alcohol content makes it a “one to a customer” drink, Ochal said. “It’s just a very relaxing drink. It’s a festive drink,” she said. “If I did skip it, they’d look at the bar and say, ‘Where’s the glogg?’ It’s just one of those things that are not skipped here. It’s just part of Christmas.”

Glogg’s roots are in Scandinavia, a part of the world that knows something about cheering people up as the snow flies. But chai, Indian spiced milk tea, is from a country known more for furnacelike heat.

Yet it translates perfectly to Buffalo, said Shobha Chowdhary, who was born in India and teaches Indian cooking classes in her Amherst home. “When I ask people if they would like coffee or chai,” Chowdhary said, “they always say, ‘Let’s have chai.’ ”

Offering a recipe for chai is like offering one for cookies, said Chowdhary — there are countless varieties. Black tea is simmered with spices that can differ from state to state in India, and from family to family, she said. But they’re all aromatic and a centerpiece for social interaction.

“Chai goes with talking,” Chowdhary says. “Housewives say, ‘Let’s have a cup of chai,’ and when one person starts making it, everybody in the family asks: ‘Can I have some? Can I have some?’ ”

Chowdhary provided a basic chai recipe, printed here, but warned that no recipe is definitive. “Sometimes they’re like home remedies, with ginger,” she said, “others with cloves, which are ‘hot.’ ”

All of them simmer spices with tea in water, for as little as 30 seconds to as much as 30 minutes. Some add milk for a brief boil, others add milk after boiling.

Kundalini yoga instructor Siri Narayan Fuda of Buffalo likes a chai recipe that uses spices, like fresh ginger root, believed to have beneficial effects in the Ayurvedic system of medicine. She makes big batches of the tea base, then stores it in her refrigerator to warm and add milk to later.

You can “add less tea, leave it out altogether, or use decaf,” she said. Soy or almond milk can be substituted for cow juice. One thing that’s not really flexible is volume: Make enough for friends.

“Anyone who makes only one cup of chai is an idiot,” she said, joking.

There are certainly a lot of warming drinks, said Fuda. But “chai is certainly the queen.”

Shobha’s Chai

6 cups water

4 cups 2 percent or whole milk

8 teaspoons loose black Indian tea leaves, such as Taj Mahal, or Bagh Bakri

8 green cardamom pods, cracked

8 cloves, whole

2 inches of cinnamon stick, roughly

8 teaspoons sugar, or to taste

Put water in a sauce pan. Add cloves, cracked cardamom pods and the cinnamon stick. Bring the water to boil, and add milk and tea leaves. Boil for 30 seconds, let it sit for 30 seconds in covered pan. Strain. Makes 8 servings.

Glogg, Ochal style

2 cups claret (red Bourdeaux) or other red wine

2 cups sherry

1 cup brandy

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup raisins

1 cup slivered almonds

1 teaspoon cloves

1 teaspoon crushed cinnamon stick

1 teaspoon cardamom pods, cracked

1 small orange, orange parts of peel only, sliced thinly as possible

Combine ingredients in pot and simmer gently for at least 1 hour. Put dried spices in tea ball while cooking, and remove before serving.

Best in tall glass mugs. Can be kept warm in a Crockpot.

Caramelized Cinnamon Hot Chocolate

4 1/2 cups whole milk

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

2 cinnamon sticks

8 ounces fine bittersweet chocolate, like Ghiradelli.

Bring milk and water to boil in a saucepan. Turn off heat.

In another saucepan, heat sugar and cinnamon sticks over medium heat. The sugar will start to melt after several minutes. After it starts to melt and turn amber, stir with a wooden spoon. Make sure the cinnamon is cooking along with the sugar.

When the sugar reaches deep amber, still stirring, pour in the milk and water mixture. It may clump, but keep stirring, and it will dissolve again.

When the mixture is smooth, whisk in the chocolate. Continue to whisk on the heat until the first bubble pops. Remove pan from heat and take out cinnamon stick. Whip with an immersion blender for 1 minute.

Serve with dollops of fresh whipped cream and cinnamon, or pour into a container. Can be made up to two days ahead and stored in the fridge in a well sealed container. If made ahead, whip again after reheating. Serves 6. (Source: “Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme,” by Dorie Greenspan.)

And a more traditional holiday drink from Epicurious.com:

Mulled Wine

2 (3-inch) cinnamon sticks

5 cardamom pods

3 black peppercorns

4 whole cloves

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups water

1 (750-ml) bottle dry red wine such as Cotes du Rhone

1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise

1 small orange, thinly sliced

1 small lemon, thinly sliced

Wrap cinnamon sticks, cardamom pods, peppercorns and cloves in cheesecloth and tie with string. Bring sugar and water to a boil in a 5-quart heavy pot, stirring until sugar is dissolved, then add spice bag, wine, vanilla bean and fruit. Simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, 3 minutes.

Serves 8.