Sipping tea with Santa

Much as I love cups and saucers, I have to say I really enjoy sipping tea out of my Santa Claus mugs at Christmas. Last night, I began unwrapping them and brought them in from the garage so I can begin figuring out where I'm going to display them all this year. I'm thinking of wiring some of them into a wreath.


To kick off this festive sipping season, I chose this little guy. I like this one for its vintage look and diminutive size, about the size of a teacup, which is the perfect size for serving up a cup of Christmasy peppermint tea.


My co-worker Nichole started it all. Some years ago, she heard me say I was "thinking" of beginning a collection of vintage Santa Claus mugs. A quaint little antique store was located across the street from our offices at the time, and so I had to walk past their window display of mugs daily. She gave me two as my Christmas gift that year, and thus began a collection. I believe these two are the ones she gave me, but alas, I never marked them, so I can't be sure. But hey, who is going to argue with me? Other "enablers" in my collecting include my mother, who has supplied probably 50-something of my 70+ mugs, and my friend Sandra, both of whom have always enjoyed the search for a fun collectible.


Big ones, little ones, old ones, new ones, simple ones, elaborate ones, winking ones, blinking ones ... I find them all just charming. These Santa-mug cream pitchers my mom found are rather hard to come by, and I hope to find the matching sugar bowls one day.


A gift from my friend Sandra, this guy reminds both me and my husband of our magazine's chief photographer, Bob.


And finally, a great departure from my usual "pink roses" motif in teawares, this biker-guy Santa was another recent gift from my mom. I don't know why, but I find him just hysterical!

Do any of you collect Santa mugs? If so, I say, try using them for tea this Christmas. Why on earth should hot chocolate have all the fun?