Tea and Books Saturday #46 - "The Doll's Tea Party"

The Doll's Tea Party
By M.C. Leeka
McClanahan Book Company, 1993

Wow, I can't believe I will review just six more tea books before the year comes to an end! This week, though, I wanted to share a simple little book that I came across years ago and which quickly became my favorite children's tea book, "The Doll's Tea Party."

This tale is told in sing-songy rhyme, which I happen to like, and centers around a little girl named Missy and her favorite doll, Anne Marie. One night, Missy goes to bed and places Anne Marie on the shelf, but unknown to her Anne Marie has plans of her own. She climbs down, changes into party clothes, and invites all the other toys to join her for tea. Now that's my kind of doll!

"The toys were so excited/To be part of all the fun./So Anne Marie got busy/Making tea for everyone./The lion set the table and/The clown pulled up the chairs./The toy soldiers were busy/Marching back and forth in pairs." And so on, and so on. This book is one I have enjoyed reading aloud to little girls (and once to some big girls!), and I think that is perhaps why this sweet teatime tale is such a favorite of mine. If you like children's books related to teatime, this is one you may wish to consider adding to your library!

Lenox Christmas Ornaments

I always appreciate it when readers let me know where to find tea-themed Christmas ornaments, so I feel it's only fair I tell *you* when I come across some new ones myself, as I did this week at a T.J. Maxx store. My favorite one is this tea kettle design.

If you go to T.J. Maxx, be sure and look for the red boxes, because that's how these are packaged.

And here is the teacup ornament. These retail for $29 but T.J. Maxx has them for $12.99, which I still think is too much, but happily I had a rewards certificate and pretty much got two for the price of one. Before too long, it will be time to hang all the new ornaments on my tea-themed miniature Christmas tree, and I can't wait!

The magazine giveaway winners are ...

Snap, Rosemary, Frivolitea, Amherst Rose and Marilyn! Congrats! If I don't already have your address from a past giveaway, please send it via the e-mail button at right and I'll get these issues headed your way!

A new teapot & teacup necklace

Sometimes I am just amazed at the bargains you can find on eBay. Recently, for instance, there was a new design of teapot and teacup necklace I had not seen before. Even though it was just 99 cents (plus $1.19 for shipping), it had no bidders. Naturally, I put in a bid ... and I won!

This isn't fine jewelry by any means, but it's actually a decent weight of necklace, and I love the fact it's a double stranded piece with two different types of chain.

The teacup and saucer are separate charms, and I just love the design, especially when I got the whole shebang for just about $2. I have no idea if this is an old or new Claire's item, but I thought I'd mention it here in case any of you want to look for the same necklace. (And if Claire's doesn't have it, you can always look online!)

A December 2 Tea for Toys!

Don't you love this logo? It was created by my friend and colleague Deberah to promote the Tea for Toys event that Newnan-Coweta Magazine will be hosting at Holly Cottage Tearoom in Newnan on Thursday, December 2! We are so excited about this tea and were eager to see if we'd hear from anyone when the new issue of the magazine hit the streets last Friday announcing the details. Happily, there has been lots of interest, and about half the tickets are already gone!

There will be morning and afternoon teatimes that day, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and then again from 2-4 p.m. Our dear friends at Holly Cottage will be preparing the food and tea for us, and Newnan-Coweta Magazine will provide treat bags, door prizes, demonstrations and whatever else we can fit into two hours! Tickets are $15 each, and we're also asking participants to bring an unwrapped, $10 toy which will be given to the local foster parent association for its Christmas toy distribution program. It is going to be a fun day, and it occurred to me that while out-of-state readers probably won't be able to fly in for the day, some of you in the Atlanta area just might wish to do so! Feel free to contact me via the e-mail button at right if you want to know if any tickets are left.

This, by the way, is the cover of the new issue of our magazine, which appears to be a great hit with readers -- folks just love all those cookie recipes! I realize local readers likely already have their copy, but if you're an out-of-state or out-of-area reader of this blog and would like to receive a copy of this issue, just leave a comment to today's post before 7 a.m. EST tomorrow and I'll personally mail a copy to five lucky winners. Good luck!

My Mom's Tea Room

No, she's not *officially* in business, but the last time I went home to see my parents, my mom had redecorated the kitchen again. She has a huge formal dining room, but meals are also taken in this little breakfast nook, so she has been experimenting with different looks there. You have to understand that my mother has been known to change paint colors about as often as most of us change the sheets. She moved into the new (and hopefully forever) home in the spring, and I have yet to show up there without the fragrance of fresh paint lingering in the air. I always like whatever she does, I've just learned not to ever get too attached to it!

I absolutely love the "tea room" she has created, especially knowing that she did it for under $20. That includes $15 for the bargain-priced table and captain's chairs she got Daddy to paint white.

And $2 for the lovely pictures my dad picked up at a yard sale. Hopefully I have a reservation at this new tea room for about two weeks from now!

Treasures in Wisconsin

Some of you who've been reading this blog a while may recall that in October of 2009, my stepdaughter Heather married her beau Brad from Wisconsin. Well, their almost-anniversary present was this little guy, who is named Michael Alex for his grandfathers, including my husband Alex. Isn't he a cutie? (I mean Michael, but Alex is too!) And so it is that we just got back from a week in Wisconsin visiting this growing family and meeting sweet baby Michael!

We flew the first two times we went to Wisconsin, but this time we made a road trip, which I very much enjoyed. While I'm not afraid of flying I do hate the *hassle* of flying these days, and also of not being able to shop as I want because only so much will fit in a carry-on bag. So while Michael napped, we managed to squeeze in a little shopping at some of the great thrift shops nearby. My best find was this set of four glass tea and toast sets. I'd been wanting a clear glass set like this, and almost bought a similar set for $15 in an antique mall recently. I'm glad I waited for this set, which was just $3.99!

I also found this large rose design bowl, which is marked "Sevres."

I've never had a lemon server with a Christmas design before, but I loved this one ($1.99) with its handpainted Santa design.

And this pink luncheon size plate is one of the prettiest ones I've come across.

Next, my thrifting took me to Goodwill, where the treasures included a teacup birdfeeder ($1.99) that I will no doubt be looking forward to using next spring.

In just a few weeks, I'll be pulling out my Santa mug collection, which now includes this one (49 cents) found in great vintage condition. (Have I mentioned that I plan to decorate my largest Christmas tree with Santa mugs this year?)

And this small bird-nest-and-teapot figurine (49 cents) is not the sort of thing I usually buy, but the price was right and who knows, it may show up in some vignette next spring!

An antique mall turned up these vintage Japanese teabag holders ($2).

Finally, I went back to Kohler Gardener in search of more of those cute clay teapot pots I found on clearance back in July (one is pictured up top). All gone, alas, but I did pick up some cute Christmas gift tags featuring teapots. These will certainly come in handy very soon!

But of course the sweetest treasure I found in Wisconsin is the one I had to leave behind!

Tea and Books Saturday #45: "Six Girls and the Tea Room"

Six Girls and the Tea Room
By Marion Ames Taggart
W.A. Wilde Company, 1907

This 1907 book is one I found on eBay a while back, and though I bought it purely because of the title and the graphics, I loved it because of the story! Six fatherless girls - the Scollard sisters Margery, Happie, Laura, Penny, Polly and their friend Gretta - are living in a flat in New York City and decide to open a tearoom. Following their father's death their mother has had to go to work for a large firm to support her family, which also includes a son, Bob, who is himself working and trying to provide support. The girls decide it's their turn to help make ends meet.

The illustration above (double-click for more detail) shows two of the girls selecting teawares for the business: "They were delightful days of selection of materials for hangings, picking out teacups, spoons, dear little chunky Japanese teapots, sugar bowls and cream jugs and pretty plates. They were made by the artistic Japanese in such good designs and colors that only when one turned them over and saw the quality of the ware did one realize that they were picked up on one of the tables at Mardine's where tempting Japanese knickknacks play a sort of progressive game of their own, from the fifteen cent table up to the dollar one, after which they retire to the shelves as winners." Another tidbit about the business: In the days leading up to their grand opening, Margery checked and rechecked the tea caddies "to make perfectly certain that she had labeled aright Ceylon, English Breakfast and Oolong."

I was pleasantly surprised that this old book had such an interesting plot. The character lessons were ones I expected (and enjoyed), but there was much in this book that surprised me considering the time in which it was written:

-- One evening's supper included potato salad from the deli (well, "delicatessen"). Sounds like today, doesn't it?

-- Another mealtime offering that surprised me was spaghetti. I just didn't picture anyone in the U.S. in 1907 eating spaghetti!

-- When the brother is injured on the ice one winter and has to miss work for a week, the second oldest girl, Happie, fills in for him, and admirably, at his office. That was a surprise -- but of course I wasn't surprised she did a great job!

-- At one family party, there was talk of playing "the old game of pinning the tail on the donkey." If it was already old in 1907, then that truly *is* an old game!

But enough trivia. This book follows the lives of a family trying to make it under rather difficult conditions, but determined to live cheerful, meaningful lives. In the midst of it all there is romance and lost love, a mystery (who IS that man in the sombrero who keeps visiting the tearoom to play the piano?), and more than a little fun. (Brother Bob is quite the jokester, and his jokes somehow come across as fresh and new -- and funny!)

"Six Girls and the Tea Room" is 318 pages long, but the lively pace and charming characters made it whiz right by. An online search showed there are still copies around, including in some libraries, so if you come across this book I would absolutely recommend reading it!

Tea Party Scrapbook Week Day 5 - Tea With Little Friends

Especially during my single years, I was so grateful for my girlfriends who let me borrow their little girls so I could host tea parties! My little friends Maggie and Mollie, who are sisters, were regular tea party guests, and I always knew I'd have a fun time when they came over. I'll never forget one tea party where the thing Mollie most wanted to eat was ... sugar cubes. And I let her. She wasn't going to be *staying* at my house, so why not? We all had a great time!

Maggie and Mollie are much older now, and they can still do the girly-girl thing when they want, but they used to love to play dress-up and play with an old-fashioned parasol I have.

Sisters Cydney and Alley are now in high school and college, but boy do I love looking at old photos of them when they were little and having tea. I love that Alley illustrated her thank-you note to me!

They had the sweetest smiles as little girls, and they still do!

This is another Maggie-and-Mollie tea party, and I had found some tea-themed scrapbooking paper for this layout.

Here's Maggie dressed up with tapestry covered heels and a purse.

And here's Mollie in a vintage hat and feather boa. Fun! Some of the happiest teatimes are those spent with children, and I have been so blessed to have great children (and moms) in my life!

So I hope you have enjoyed the tour of my tea party scrapbook this week. While I've let my blog record my tea parties in recent years, I believe this week has inspired me to work on once again putting these memories in a scrapbook. I don't really know whether future generations of family and friends will still be reading blogs, but I like to think my scrapbook will survive!

Tea Party Scrapbook Week Day 4 - The New Moms' Tea

Looking back through my scrapbook, this tea party was one of the simplest but also one of my most creative ones, I think. In fall of 2001, despite (or perhaps because of) what was going on in our country, I had a tea party to celebrate the fact four friends had all had babies around the same time!

From left we have Ashly holding Jackson, Nichole holding Mary Lauren, Nikki holding Matthew and Becky holding Asher. It's nine years down the road and sweet Mary Lauren recently sent me a delicious sample of Tazo's Organic Apple Red tea through her mom -- so don't tell me it doesn't pay to teach 'em about tea while they're young!

Decorating for this tea was the most fun part! I used baby washcloths for the napkins and baby feeding spoons for the teaspoons. The placecards were identified by the baby's name, such as "Jackson's Mom," and I had a jar of baby food at each place setting.

And even though I used lace on the table, it was on top of my "tablecloth" which was, in reality, a baby blanket that became a door prize! I used a teapot with lots of blue and pink, and this simple tea was one of the most fun ones I have ever given.

Tomorrow: Taking tea with little friends

Tea Party Scrapbook Week Day 3 - Tea in the Garden

Friends have held teas in my honor on several occasions, and I've always been most grateful for them, but without a doubt the most extravagant such event was the birthday tea my mother/daughter friends Sandra and Beth gave me one year. Isn't this absolutely incredible? I'd always enjoyed visiting Sandra's beautifully-designed garden but never dreamed I'd be having a birthday tea there!

I still look at the photos years later and think, "They did all this for ME?" A TENT set up in the backyard? Mercy! But my, what a wonderful time it was!

My birthday gifts that year included the clay teapot and cup and saucer planters shown here, which I have somehow managed not to break in the ensuing years. (Knock on wood!)

At another garden tea, I was not the honoree but a co-hostess. This garden tea was held to say goodbye and good wishes to my friend Kathy when she was moving from our town to Savannah.

My fellow co-hostess, Ruth, has a lovely woodland garden surrounding her log home, an ideal setting for such a tea. Here Kathy, some of her family members and friends are touring the shade garden.

Ruth had written "Kathy's Tea Time" on a cute little teapot-shaped chalkboard, and you can also see the foods we enjoyed together: spinach quiche, finger sandwiches, cheese straws, fresh fruit and cake. If you've never had tea in the garden, you really MUST!

Tomorrow: The New Moms' Tea

Tea Party Scrapbook Week Day 2 - Tea With a Girlfriend

My dear friend Beth is the person I've taken tea with most often, and she and I have always been up for a road trip if it involved a new tearoom. Years ago, we headed south to a town near Columbus which was then home to a Magnolia and Ivy tearoom. Later Magnolia and Ivy opened in Sandestin, Fla., and I had a great time there, but I will always remember fondly that first M&I visit Beth and I shared. Maybe that's why this is still one of my favorite layouts in my tea party scrapbook. (Double-click if you want to see more details.)

We both played dress-up that day, and even though Beth doesn't like to wear hats all that much she always looks so pretty in them!

Here we are in dress-up mode.

When our teas arrived -- Victorian Garden and Buckingham Palace -- the teapots were marked with cute little teapot-shaped labels.

Even the door to the tearoom was beautifully decorated with a tea-themed wreath. Everything about this tearoom was just lovely, and while I'm sorry it's no longer in business, it remains open forever through the pages of my scrapbook.

Tomorrow: Taking tea in the garden

Tea Party Scrapbook Week Day 1 - Tea With Family

Friends, here is something I've debated sharing with you all for quite a while now, my tea party scrapbook. You see, I'm really a very, very amateur scrapbooker, by no means in league with all those scrapbooking queens out there who do marvelous, perfect work. But despite my scrapbooking insecurity, I decided I would "open my scrapbook" to my friends this week simply to pass along the idea of keeping a visual record of the tea parties you've held through the years. My scrapbook was a T.J. Maxx find, an inexpensive Mary Engelbreit design album suitable for 12 x 12 pages.

I haven't come across that many tea-themed stickers through the years (not that I've tried that hard!), but I did like these so much I decided to use them on my opening page.

And now, with your indulgence, I will spend the rest of the week sharing some of my tea parties and the pages which chronicle them. Alas, I'm bad about dating things, so I'll have to go back through some old date books to figure out precisely which year we were celebrating Aunt Jane's birthday! My oldest nieces are now 14 and 11, though, so that lets you know it's been a while. (Double click if you want to see a page in more detail.)

The yellow chintzware on the table reminds me this party was held around the time I began collecting Royal Winton Welbeck chintz.

If I want to remember what I served that day, all I have to do is look at the photo!

On my mom's 60th birthday, we all traveled to a tearoom near Atlanta for a bit of shopping and dining.

Niece Madison was obviously enjoying herself.

In fact, ladies of all ages enjoy dressing up!

But birthdays aren't the only reason to have tea with family. One time back before I married, the ladies in my family enjoyed a warm weather tea together on my small front porch.

Niece Cari enjoyed dressing up in one of my vintage hats.

And of course I had to honor the occasion by scrapbooking it!

Coming tomorrow: Scrapbooking a favorite tearoom visit with a girlfriend!