Mal, the Peppermint thing isn't year round, so you should be OK after Christmas. However, don't try the white chocolate mocha....or a caramel frappucino...or a caramel macchito or...!!! I was like you, I avoided Starbucks. Then they opened a store down the block from the office, a coworker was making a run one afternoon. I asked him to pick up something "cold & slushy", figuring there wasn't anything like that...I was wrong. He came back with a caramel frappucino, and an addiction was born.
BTW, I am drinking the first Peppermint Mocha of the season right now!