Monday, January 3, 2022

To new beginnings!


I always love the first week of a new year, full of possibility, good intentions, and perhaps a little more reflecting on the year past. One thing I am grateful for and have been for almost 15 years now is those of you I've befriended through Tea With Friends, and I marvel at how well some of you know me even though we've never met face to face. Before I move on to all the fun 2022 things, I wanted to show you three lovely gifts I received from tea friends this Christmas. Susan B. sent something I'd never seen before, some Sweet Tea soap! It smells absolutely scrummy (yes, I've been watching lots of British TV), and I love that it was made there in her state of North Carolina.


And this tiny little teacup with the basket (or compote, maybe) of flowers? Michele in Ohio sent that for my desktop tree with the mini ornaments. Isn't it darling? I have always loved artwork depicting floral arrangements—in paintings, on dishes, and anywhere, really. Since I am slowly building my collection of mini ornaments, each of these is quite meaningful to me, and so far, I can remember how I acquired all of them.


And last but by no means least, Cara in Iowa surprised me with this darling ornament that immediately went on my full-sized tea-themed tree (which, alas, I failed to photograph this year). I had never seen this particular design, dated 2007, which she assures me she found at a thrift store for a good price.  How clever that the designer used forks, spoons, and sugar cubes for the limbs and feet. I *love* thrifted ornaments, and I greatly value thrift store gifts because of the thoughtfulness that goes into finding them.


Along with the ornament, which arrived on Christmas Eve, she included some fun stickers with the timely message to "make time for tea." These went straight into the pocket of my new bullet journal for the year. The plan? I'm going to try to create more tea "occasions" this year, even if (thank you, pandemic) they don't include a full-fledged tea party for a while. Maybe I can use them to mark giving someone a special delivery of scones? Or maybe I'll mark the day I come across a longed-for teacup? Or maybe I'll write a tea-themed short story and submit it for publication somewhere? Whatever the case, these charming stickers will be used to mark tea milestones in the year ahead, and I am delighted to have them.

One milestone I'm looking forward to: Tea With Friends will be 15 years old in March. I'm planning to mark the anniversary in some unique ways that I hope you will appreciate, so stay tuned!

8 comments:

  1. Celebrating 15 years of tea with friends is a wonderful thing! Congratulations, I've enjoyed each post!🫖🫖

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  2. Those are such nice little Christmas gifts! And the ornament of the two embracing "tea friends," made out of tea-party items, definitely made me smile. That's exciting that you will be celebrating 15 years of "Tes with Friends" in March. The first week of the new year DOES present a lot of positive possibilities to us, so let's enjoy it. It's snowing like crazy here in Washington, DC, this morning, and it looks so beautiful--everything looks pure and white and fresh and clean.

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  3. Great gifts! The ornaments are darling (I love the sugar cube feet!) and the soap sounds wonderful. Love the stickers, too. 15 years is a great milestone, I'm glad I've been reading your blog for many of them.

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  4. Awl sweet post, Angela. ♥ Glad you like your itty bitty teacup.

    I love all your tea gifts. And grats on 15 years blogging. As you know I took this last year off - blaming Covid depression - and I just realized 3 days ago was my 10th year at The Nest at Finch Rest! Where do the years go? I need to get back to posting again. Hopefully soon. I miss it very much.

    Happy New Year!

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  5. Lovely gifts. 15 years, wow time flies.

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  6. I just stopped by to search for your year of tea sandwiches. I can't believe that was a decade ago! Every year I say I want to leave corporate and open a tea house. 2022 is the year I at least start making tea sandwiches, lol

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  7. Tea Friends are the Best! I'm glad I've been blessed to have tea with you on multiple occasions even though you live in Georgia and I'm in Michigan.

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  8. What fun gifts! Wow! 15 years!
    Now I am wondering how long I have been blogging.

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