Christmas Tea With Friends.......

Last week I hosted a small and intimate "Christmas Tea" for some good friends of mine who are also my co-workers.
Two of which had never been to a "tea" before.

This is how things looked BEFORE
I prepared everything.


I set the table with mainly with Blue "Spode 'Winter's Eve'" dishes...and a few odd Spode Teacups, along with a few "Queen's 'Albertine'" Teacups.
Only because I really do not like the cups that match the Spode Winter's Eve.......because they are "MUGS."
I own them but no I wasn't going to do "Mugs" at my Tea Party, "Thank You very much."

The Ladies didn't even notice the difference when I pointed out to them that the China didn't all match. HA!


I used fresh flowers "red carnations and evergreen leaves and branches mixed" on the table and in the main bathroom and on my little kitchen windowsill.

I had my friend Marsha, make all the Tea foods for me....because she is an awesome "Tea Caterer" and her "Cucumber Sandwiches" are positively the BEST in the world.
And that is not an exaggeration at all.
In fact all her tiny dishes are sooooooo good. That's why I hired her. HA!

I had a HARD time taking photos AND being the "Hostess" so I didn't take proper photos of all the food and the courses we had.
Actually I took this one after the fact.

It is our "First course" which consisted of:
~Tiny Ham and Cheese Quiche Bites~
~Cream Cheese-Pineapple-Pecan Roll ups~
~Cucumber Sandwiches with Chives~

Next we had TWO types of Scones.....
~Cranberry, Walnut~
~Peppermint Stick and Mini Chocolate Chip~

For dessert we had....
~Mini Bread Puddings cut in the shapes of "Teapots" with a heavy sauce.

I used a "Mrs. Tea" maker to make all the tea we drank. I found this nearly new one this summer at a thrift store for $9.00!! Much to my GREAT PLEASURE because it's really worth about a million dollars to us tea drinkers.
We will talk more about this Tea Maker later because they are important to us Tea drinkers.

The TWO Tea's I served were:
~Windsor Court~ A rich, and hearty black tea.
~Lady Londonderry~ A lovely fruity, green tea.Both are some of my favorites.

Here is my friend Nona who I love dearly.
I've known Nona for years, and she is the one that recruited me to take on my little job...where we all work.
Miss Priss, even works there now too!

Nona, is one of the SWEETEST and KINDEST people on the planet. You really don't meet many people in life like her and she has suffered alot of heartache and tragedy in life unlike many of us ever will.
She has recently in the past few weeks been diagnosed with Breast Cancer. She will be undergoing a surgery very soon to put in a "Port" to run Chemotherapy in to her body and she will be having some "Lymph Glands" removed.

We are all very sad about this and highly concerned for her. So please join me and the many others that are praying for her. I hate to see her have to go through all of this.
Nona, Joyce, Darleen, Ms. Phillis



Darleen is funny and has been a huge help to me at work, and I like her alot.

Ms. Phillis is very sweet and has a sense of humor like mine and she is a great encourager.
She herself has been through so much this Fall....she lives in my neighborhood and a tree FELL on her house during Hurricane Gustav, crushing her house!! She has had to endure much construction and craziness the past few months.

All of these Ladies are lovely friends and I am honored to have them in my life.
Nona, Joyce, Darleen, Ms. Phillis, in our Christmas Crowns.

Then we did some "non traditional" Tea Party fare.

I had a "Christmas Cracker" at each spot for the Ladies.
I taught them how to "pull" the Cracker with another person and we all had a GREAT time doing this.

Most Americans have never done this and our family loves to do it. HA! HA
Once the Ladies left....I drank some more tea and then took a nap.
Three of my favorite things to do in life.

Have fun, quality time with friends...
Drink Tea
Take Naps

Not always in that order.