Grateful for family, Christmas 2017

Did you have a lovely Christmas, friends? I did. Alex and I particularly enjoyed the Christmas Eve  candlelight service at our church. I love this time when the church is packed with worshippers sitting quietly as our college students lead us in songs and carols before we end by all singing "Silent Night" together in the dim light. After all the busyness of December, it's great to pause and reflect before Christmas actually arrives. And as the years roll on, I'm increasingly aware that second to the gift of Christ ("Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift!"), my favorite Christmas "gift" is simply having a healthy and happy family and friends. Here I am with Alex at my dad's house for the big family celebration on Monday.

Here's my sister, Rhonda, and me with Daddy.

Aunt Jane *loves* to have her picture made with Alex.

And while I do enjoy receiving presents, I most enjoy giving them to all the kids in our family, so here are a few shots of my nephew and nieces, starting with the youngest, Matthew.

Then there's Amelia, who received lots of clothes and horse-themed goodies for her room.

Cari is an Auburn fan (sorry, Alabama friends) and had requested this T-shirt commemorating their win in this year's Iron Bowl.

And Madison, the oldest, who now has her first "grown-up" job, has moved into a townhome with a girlfriend and had requested a coffeemaker.

And we're still eating leftovers from yet another wonderful family meal! My sister and I join in for what we like to think of as a modified Thanksgiving menu. This year that meant a ham Daddy baked as well as dressing, sweet potato casserole, potato salad, broccoli casserole, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, olives, and rolls. Dessert was a coconut cake, pound cake, chocolate chip pie, and pecan pie. All was accompanied by lots of sweet tea! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed a happy, healthy family celebration yourself. How did you celebrate?

Merry Christmas!

"For, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."

— Luke 2:10, 11

Merry Christmas, tea friends!

The tea-themed tree, circa 2017

Christmas is just around the corner, and I realized I never shared any photos of my new white tea-themed Christmas tree. After buying a much taller tree than my little pink tabletop tree, I had assumed I wouldn't have enough teapot and teacup ornaments to decorate it, but it turns out that wasn't a problem!

I have to say, the white background really seems to make the ornaments pop this year, and I love it.

One of my newest additions is this handmade ornament from my tea blogger friend Lynn, the only ornament I've ever seen that actually contains real tea! Isn't this clever? By the way, click on her name to visit her blog and get some great ideas for last-minute tea gifts. She's got some very creative ideas!

And below, I'll close with some other teapot and teacup ornaments that were gifts from friends in this lovely world of tea. Hope you all are getting ready to have a wonderful Christmas celebration with family, friends, and all those you love. Are you doing anything special this weekend? The thing I'm most looking forward to is the candlelight service at church on Christmas Eve. However you plan to celebrate, Merry Christmas, from my home to yours!

The tea sampler goes to …

Karen O. of the Quilting, Losing and Tea blog! Congrats to Karen O., and thanks to all who entered. Looking forward to more fun giveaways in 2018!

Candy Cane Crush from Davids Tea

Peppermint teas are some of my favorites to try at the holidays, and I was intrigued by this one from Davids Tea, Candy Cane Crush. It's a creamy black tea flavored with white chocolate, peppermint bits, and snowflake sprinkles, so this is really like a cup of dessert!

Here you can see that this tea gets a little milky looking as it steeps.

This was a delicious peppermint tea, made all the more enjoyable by the yummy bits of flavoring it contains!

Christmas giveaway: Davids Tea sampler

This month's giveaway is going to be a quick one, because I didn't decide on the giveaway item until late in the month, so this giveaway will run for only two days so I can hurry up and get it in the mail to the winner! I was placing an order with Davids Tea when I realized one of their tiny little zippered pouches of tea sachets would make a fun giveaway, so here 'tis: the winner gets this cute little zippered pouch containing Candy Cane Crush, Let It Snow, Alpine Punch, White Cranberry Bark, and Sleigh Ride teas to try! (And I'll be blogging about them after I try them for myself!)

If you'd like to be entered to win, just leave an "Enter me" to this post between now and 7 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 20, and please make sure I have a way to contact you if you're the winner so I can hurry up and get this in the mail! (US only, please.) Good luck, and Merry Christmas!

Matcha madness

Friends, I'm afraid I've let you down. A better blogger would have managed to review the Starbucks Christmas Tree Frappuccino in time for you to actually try one (if you hadn't already), but no, I didn't get mine until the very last day they were available, December 11, and by then it was too late to blog about it. In case you didn't get to try one, I hesitate to tempt you now, but … in this drink, mocha and peppermint were blended with milk and ice, and the drink was topped with a "tree" of matcha-infused whipped cream drizzled with caramel and a strawberry on top. (It was supposed to have candied cranberries, but I'm afraid I didn't see or taste any in my drink.)

Still, this frappuccino was quite yummy, especially since I absolutely love peppermint treats at this time of year. But matcha … in a Starbucks drink? Does that strike you as it does me, as somehow significant?

We tea lovers have known about using tea as an ingredient for years, but it seems to me that the food world at large has now caught on to the trend. I typed "recipe with matcha" into Google, and up came more than 1 million results! I'm still not a real fan of matcha on its own, but I do enjoy cooking with it on occasion. Are you a matcha fan?

Candy cane from another lane

Over the weekend, Alex and I were in the Sprouts natural and organic grocery store in Peachtree City, where I browsed the teas and was disappointed not to see any Candy Cane Lane from Celestial Seasonings. Later in the store, we ran into an old colleague, Steve, and his wife, Robin, and I happened to mention my fruitless quest. "I think I saw some candy cane tea over there," Robin said, pointing at a Christmas display in the store.

I rushed right over and found Sprouts's own candy cane-flavored tea, an herbal blend, and I must say it's a great substitute for Candy Cane Lane. It's got peppermint, cinnamon, spearmint, licorice root, roasted carob, natural flavors, and chicory, and it's delicious. In fact, now I'm debating whether to order some Candy Cane Lane off Amazon or simply go back to Sprouts for more of this one since I bought only two boxes and am drinking it like crazy!

It was only $2 a box, and I also love the fact the tea bags are individually wrapped. Have any of you tried Candy Cane tea from Sprouts? If so, what did you think?

A Christmas Tea with my neighbors

Two years ago, one of the best things possible happened. Our treadmill broke. It was Christmas, so we didn't rush right out and buy a new one. Instead, I started walking through the neighborhood on those cold afternoons, and I began to meet some of my neighbors I'd seen only in passing. Today, I am so thankful for that broken treadmill, because it led me to two new friends, Carol and Amanda, and a third friend, Amanda's sweet little baby Kelly, has joined our group as well. Yesterday, I did something I'd been wanting to do for a while and had them over for Christmas tea!

I must say, I love my neighbors and wish I'd gotten to know them sooner!

Our menu consisted of cucumber sandwiches and …

Pimiento cheese ribbons and chicken salad sandwiches cut into teapot shapes.

We had chocolate chip scones, and they were served with cream that I had in a Christmas tree–shaped dish (forgot to get a picture; y'all know how it is).

Our sweets included peppermint pecan fudge brownie bites …

White chocolate cheesecake balls …

And brown sugar shortbread (forever grateful that my pen pal Sandy shared this easy, never-fail recipe).

The three dessert plates (and I have only three) were perfect for this gathering, and I have them only because my tea-lover friend Joy up in Blairsville found them for me! (Thank you again, Joy! See, I'm putting them to good use.)

They matched the teapot and two-tiered server I already had, and Joy found me the sugar bowl as well. I think of her every time I see these! The teas I served were Victorian London Fog from Harney and Coconut Tea from Adagio. We drank many cups of each!

 

And in some news I did not even mention on Friday because I doubted it would actually happen, we got snow here in Georgia! Several inches!

 This snow-deprived child was quite happy to look out my office window yesterday morning and see … this view! We rarely, rarely get snow in the South, and certainly not several inches of it, and when they predicted a dusting, I thought it was another case of the boy who cried wolf and didn't even take the forecasts seriously. Happily, the snow came at the perfect time, and I wasn't worried about it ruining my tea because my neighbors are close by. Most of it has already melted, and oh, how I envy those of you who are blessed with this beautiful white gift on a much more regular basis. It made an already fun weekend extra special!

P.S. We did get a new treadmill, but I don't use it for fear I'll miss out on making a new friend. I'll stick to the roads!

Christmas teatime bargains

When Aunt Jane and I went in a Salvation Army store last week, I doubted I would find any good Christmas items at this time of year. The good Christmas stuff gets gone early, but lo and behold, I came across two goodies that delighted me in both style and price, including this vintage sleigh, which I suspect will appear on my tea table this weekend. The sleigh features what I have learned is known as "spaghetti" trim.

See the spaghetti?

And what about the sweet bells?

Or the holly? Could this piece BE any more Christmasy?

Oh, and it has crackling. I love crackling. And all this beauty for 70 cents? I was quite happy!

Then I found this pretty tray that I couldn't help noticing was exactly the right size for a loaf of tea bread. I thought the ribbon-and-bell design was pretty.

I was looking up a Mikasa pattern online and happened to discover that this crystal tray is by Mikasa, and if I wanted another just like it, I could get it from Amazon here. I like my price much better, don't you?

As if all that weren't enough, the cashier directed my aunt and me to two overflowing carts, where a distributor had dropped off loaves of bread, English muffins, bagels, and other baked goods, and she told us to help ourselves for free! My whole-grain bread and cinnamon English muffins were one of the best gift-with-purchase deals I've ever gotten, and that made it some merry Christmas shopping indeed!

Making Christmas teatimes special

I do believe Christmas magazines will always be some of my favorites, but I'm afraid I haven't come across very many new ones that tempted me this year. Vintage Holiday magazine was a treat with all its Shabby Chic and pink and vintage decor, but many of the others looked so similar, I usually left the newsstand empty-handed. Thank goodness I knew I could count on the new issue of Tea Time for something pretty!

One of the things I most enjoy seeing in this magazine each year is all their pretty Christmas china. This Johnson Brothers Victorian Christmas is a pattern that was new to me, and it is quite lovely, and I love the plaid accents on this table as well. Something about Christmas plaid is always so elegant and classic looking.

I was also inspired by this little two-tiered server with Lemon-Ginger Walnut Tartlets and miniature Victoria Sponge Cakes. I'm having two of my neighbors over for Christmas tea this weekend, and I really want to do something special for them. Lord willing, I will have Friday free to make a few things ahead, so I'm pondering what that might be. Not the tea sandwiches or the scones, obviously, but maybe some special cookies or truffles or tarts? What would *you* find most tempting on a Christmas tea tray? Suggestions are most welcome!

Tea Lovers Book Club Pick #1: "The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane" by Lisa See

Where's my puerh? That's pretty much all I could think about this weekend as I finished reading The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See, the first selection for our new Tea Lovers' Book Club.

Summary: Li-Yan is the only daughter in a family of tea growers in the Akha "ethnic minority" in China. From a young age, she witnesses hardship, poverty, and the superstitious rituals that are so integral to the animistic culture in which she is being raised. An unusual (and unlikely) opportunity for further education gives her a chance at a better life, but Li-Yan becomes pregnant by her fiancé, and her life takes quite another turn when she has a daughter, absent the fiancé, and travels to another town to abandon the child, a necessity because of China's infamous One Child policy. The daughter, Haley, is adopted by an American couple, and we learn her story through miscellaneous writings interspersed throughout the book, including letters written by Haley's doctors, her mother, transcripts from a counselor, and Haley's own writings. Over some two decades, we also follow Li-Yan as she marries her fiancé, is tragically widowed, leaves the village and gets her education, and goes on to marry a wealthy businessman, all while she adds to her knowledge of puerh tea production—yet always wondering about the baby girl she left behind.

My thoughts: It took me a while to get into this book. Fortunately, I soon got to a passage dealing with Li-Yan's mother, who was a midwife. I doubt I've ever had a reason to mention this here before, but I once seriously considered becoming a lay midwife. In my twenties and thirties, I attended about a dozen births (more than half of these were home births), and I've helped women push that baby out, cut umbilical cords for squeamish fathers, and hung around as the midwife examined the placenta to be sure all the pieces were there. So I happened to bond with the midwife storyline before I bonded with the tea storyline, but I'm sure it goes without saying that I loved the tea storyline in the book. Now I'm inspired to do a little research on puerhs myself.

The characters: Li-Yan was certainly an interesting young woman, and there were quite a few times I felt sympathy for her, but I feel that the author was holding something back, writing with the brakes on, as if she was afraid to delve too deeply into Li-Yan's emotions. My favorite character was Li-Yan's daughter Haley, and I enjoyed the passages that described what was going on with her here in America. I found the passages about Haley much warmer and more accessible than the ones about Li-Yan. Maybe this was by design and each woman was as open as her culture allowed her to be. What do you think?

Other questions for discussion (and please feel free to leave a comment on any or all of these):

• "Coincidence" is a theme that runs throughout the book, and its very first line, something often recited by Li-Yan's mother, is "No coincidence, no story." The book ends (and ends rather abruptly) with a near miraculous coincidence where three people end up in the same place at the same time. Did you find the ending plausible?

• Haley's advisor seems skeptical about some of the health claims being made about tea and says, "I'm not interested in marketing, anecdotal evidence, or supposition about tea that isn't backed by fact or reason." Was she being too harsh? Should all "anecdotal evidence" and "supposition" about tea be discarded in favor of only "fact or reason"?

• Li-Yan's world was incredibly different from ours. Do you enjoy reading about a culture that's different from yours? Why or why not?

The next book: For Christmas, I'm going with something lighthearted from across the pond, "The Cosy Christmas Tea Shop" by Caroline Roberts. (It's just $1.99 on Kindle.) I hope you'll read along with me and be ready for a discussion on Friday, December 29!

Dorothy's Tea Party, Christmas 1905

It is probably too much to wish that the Library of Congress would notify me every time they post a new tea-related image, wouldn't it? At any rate, since I've been in "vintage Christmas" mode this week, I was delighted to find an image there that I don't believe I've seen before, this one from 1905 titled "Dorothy's Tea Party." Look at the scale of that tree in proportion to the woman and the little girl, who I'm assuming is Dorothy. Wow!

This was one of those stereographic prints, and I still haven't quite captured the art of letting my eyes relax enough that the two images combine into one, but maybe some of you can. 

And speaking of trees and teas, I've been busy trying to gather all of my teapot and teacup ornaments on one tree this year. I bought a 6-1/2-foot white tree at Walmart the other night ($39 lighted, and I like it!) after finally admitting I've outgrown the little pink feather tree I've used for many years. This new tree is almost full, and I've still got a few ornaments left to round up this year, so it's no pitiful wonder I could never get all of the tea-themed ornaments on my pink tree. Do you have your Christmas tree up yet? This may be the first year I actually started working on mine before December 1!