Celebrations and Preparations

My hubby's 'biological odometer' recently rolled over another year and my daughter had us over for a lovely celebration dinner.  

Thanksgiving is a time of being grateful for our blessings and giving to those less fortunate.  I usually send checks to Salvation Army, Gleaners, and/or Detroit Rescue Mission to help feed the hungry [that's the easy way], but this year I took a Thanksgiving box to fill from my local church and put a little of myself into it.  I shopped for the list of grocery items on Monday [minus the perishables which I'll purchase this Saturday] and will return it Sunday morning. Tea wasn't on the list, but you can be sure a box will be in there!  So grateful for the opportunity to brighten a family's Thanksgiving.  50 boxes were distributed and my box was #44.  It's very organized by a couple in our church.

Aside from focusing on Thanksgiving Day food preparations [I'm making the turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes, rolls, and pumpkin pie] and transporting it to my son's house, and daughter-in-law, Sharon, will fill in with other sides, I'm also VERY busy with the preparations for the December 6th ladies' Christmas tea at church.  

I bought the Christmas silk flowers to decorate the tiered servers.  61 ladies have signed up to attend so far with two Sundays remaining for sign-up.   Six ladies volunteered to hostess a table and three of us are doing two tables, and it's starting to look like some may be doing three.

I already posted that one of my tables will be a Nutcracker theme, and I decided my second table will be a snowy/icy theme using my Petals vintage dishes.  I bought the placemats and chargers on Monday.  I haven't decided what theme the third table will be yet.

This will be the favor for that table.  I copied the picture frame idea from what I'm doing at The Whitney.  The photo is our church on the first snowfall a couple of winters ago.

I would LOVE to order these dishes from Overstock.com for my third table because I already have the truck centerpiece, but I keep telling myself, No!  No!  No!  But the grandkids would love them.  No!  No!  No!

As previously mentioned, the theme of the tea is "A Cup of Christmas Tea" and I received the most lovely surprise in yesterday's mail from a dear friend in California.

She read on my blog the tea's theme and sent Tom Hegg's book.  What makes this book so special is she acquired it at an estate sale 20 years ago and inside the book was a handwritten note a mother wrote to her grown son, David, in 2000 saying she found the message of the book so profound and beautiful.  David and his family were joining her that year for Christmas and she wanted to start a tradition of sharing 'A Cup of Christmas Tea' around their Christmas tree - something they would always treasure and remember.  

My friend thought it would be honoring to this dear mother to share her story at the tea, which I will definitely do.  

If I don't get a chance to post again before Thanksgiving, I wish you and yours a very Blessed Thanksgiving!

The Christmas Season is Approaching

I am definitely not trying to rush the season, but I've got two upcoming Christmas teas in December and the clock is ticking.

Our Ladies' Christmas Tea at church is Saturday, December 6th and the theme is "A Cup of Christmas Tea".   The ladies are setting and hostessing tables this year and the sign-up to attend has begun.

I'm hoping I only have to set one table which will be a Nutcracker theme, but I'm mulling around a second theme just in case.  I was able to get Gracie China dinner and luncheon plates with matching mugs at HomeGoods, but had to order the matching teapot directly from Gracie China at almost 3 x's what I would've paid had I been lucky enough to find one at a HomeGoods near me.  It makes me wonder, are the dishes at HomeGoods seconds [slightly imperfect]?

I prefer cups and saucers to mugs, but Gracie only made mugs in this pattern.  I only needed 8 plates, but I got enough to use for my family on Christmas Eve.  I ordered Nutcracker glasses from Kirkland and will pick them up tomorrow.

December 13th is the Christmas Tea at The Whitney.  I'm responsible for ordering the gifts/favors for each guest.  We've given Christmas teacups for a couple of years so I wanted something different this year.

I found Christmas ornament picture frames at Michael's and will put a picture of The Whitney inside it.  The General Manager liked the ornament and picture, and I'll also assemble a 1/2 oz. package of our signature Mistletoe black tea to go with the ornament [the package makes 7-8 cups of tea].  They told me to plan for 160, so I'm going to be busy for awhile!

It's a cold, wintry day in Southeastern Michigan - 34 degrees [feels like 25] with a snow/rain mixture.  My hubby put our first fire of the season in the fireplace when we got home from church today for a warm cozy feeling.

We're awaiting our youngest son's arrival as he'll be on our side of town for a meeting tomorrow, so I'll sign-off for now.  

Happy November!

The calendar has turned the page to a new month, but before I delve into November I have to ask how you celebrated Halloween [if you celebrate it].  For many years [20 at least] we've gone to our son Steve's house.  He no longer hosts the 'open garage' with cider, coffee, hot chocolate and Krispy Kreme donuts for all the kids and their parents, but he still fills a big basket with good candy for the trick or treaters to choose from.  

Attendance was down this year [less than 100 trick or treaters] and I've heard several others say it was down in their neighborhoods too.  The local high school had a football game which accounted for the absence of a lot of older kids, but it was fun to see the younger children.  This little guy chose a bag of peanut M & M's but we noticed chocolate isn't the favorite candy with most kids anymore. 

This cute little girl had a hard time deciding which candy she wanted.

At first glance I thought these girls were pieces of candy corn, but they said no they were road construction cones that can be found on practically every street in Michigan!

Steve, Sharon and Jerry.  Steve's costume was an Oakland A's #9 Reggie Jackson jersey dating back to 1973.  Any trick or treater who guessed who he was got 3 pieces of candy!

~ Sharon, Me and Brooke ~

A few cities away, granddaughter, Ellie, was trick or treating with three of her maternal cousins.  She's the one wearing blue.  They're teenage mutant Ninja Turtles.

Lastly, in California, great-granddaughters Evie and Jules were trick or treating as Belle and Glinda.

When I went to work on Saturday, I was pleasantly surprised to see family friends at Mansion Tea who go way back.  Their parents and my hubby's parents were close friends so their kids grew up together.  It's been several years since I've seen them.

~ Cheri & Valerie ~

~ Valerie and her daughter ~

Valerie's two granddaughter's.  She's teaching them young about the pleasures of tea!

So far, our weather has been mild [in the high 50's, low 60's] and I'm very grateful because our furnace went out Sunday.  The repairman came yesterday and said it's time for a new one, so it will be installed this Thursday.

My December issue of Tea Time Magazine arrived just in time to provide inspiration for the upcoming Christmas holidays, my next post...

Fall Hodgepodge

As you know, I've taken a little break from blogging, but I didn't want the month to end without a catch-up post.   

My son, Steve, turned 56 on Monday, so we celebrated with him in Marine City - a quaint little city on the St. Clair River about 43 miles north of where we live.  

We ate at the Riviera Restaurant. Their Monday night special is an all you can eat Perch dinner, so we all ordered the same thing.  The Perch was lightly breaded and SO good.  With a start off of five pieces there was no need to ask for seconds, and to discourage seconds, they don't allow doggy-bags.

Boston Cream Pie has always been Steve's favorite dessert for his birthday, so I bought one and took it to the restaurant.

While we were eating we saw two big freighters sailing down the St. Clair river.  I took a pic of both but will only post one.

Fall officially began September 22nd, but I've been slow to decorate my house for the season.  I hung a fall wreath on the front door [purchased last fall], put a wicker cornucopia on the dining room table [that I made eons ago] and bought a new fall garland at Michael's to hang from my kitchen window.  So far, that's it!  Do you decorate for fall?

With Halloween tomorrow, and a work day at The Whitney, I went online to shop for a sweater suitable to wear.  I found one at Target for only $30 and purchased it.

I'm still trying to shed some pounds, and have crossed the 20 lb. weight loss threshold, but am still not where I want to be yet.  I found a great Pumpkin recipe online that satisfies dessert cravings, but doesn't sabotage weight loss.  It has no sugar - just 2 Tbsp. honey or pure maple syrup [both are good] and 1 cup low fat cottage cheese [which I puree so there's no visible cottage cheese curds].  It also contains two eggs, vanilla and pumpkin pie spice along with 1 cup pumpkin puree.  I always associate pumpkin with fall, so this recipe is perfect, healthy and  tastes really good.   I just made some today.

Yesterday I drove down to my old childhood stomping grounds, and had lunch with a few high school girlfriends [only four were able to make it yesterday].  We had a nice time getting caught up on each other's news.  I ordered Applebee's Oriental Chicken Salad and it was my meal for the day.  Yummy!

On my way home, I couldn't resist stopping to take a picture of a beautiful Maple tree on my street.  It's leaves had turned a beautiful red.  Michigan's color change will supposedly be over Nov. 3rd and then we'll be looking at barren trees for several months.

Our church had their annual Harvest Festival on Oct. 11th.  I had to work but my hubby went. I asked him to take pictures but he was so busy he didn't get a chance.  It's always a big event with hayrides, a petting zoo, chili cookoff contest and trunk or treat.  It was well attended and a good time was had by all.  Below are the only two pics I have to share.

I saw the cute fabric pumpkin [below] on Facebook and couldn't resist sharing it here.  

I'll wrap up this fall post with pictures of my sweet granddaughter, Izzy.  She turned 20 the end of September and got a car for her birthday present from her parents.  She lives off campus at MSU this year so now she won't have to take the bus or ride her bike anymore.  

What's new with you this fall?  I hope you're enjoying this season when our thoughts turn to  gratefulness.  

Pink House Tearoom

I met up with my girlfriend, Lori, last Thursday at the Pink House Tearoom in New Baltimore, MI.  Our reservations were for 12:00 noon.  It was a beautiful fall day showcasing their yard decorations for Halloween.

We ordered the Signature Pink House Experience [$29.99] which included a pot of tea from their tea selection list, three scones per person, 2 cucumber sandwich wedges, and a slice of quiche accompanied by a fruit salad or mixed green salad.  

Our pot of tea and scones came out first.  As much as I wanted to enjoy one, I brought mine home to my hubby.

We enjoyed two pots of tea with our meal.  The first was an almond flavored black tea and the second was a tropical citrus green tea.  

Next came our cucumber sandwiches.

~ Our server took our picture ~

I order the Quiche Lorraine and mixed green salad.

The food was delicious, but the fellowship was even better!  We enjoyed our time together so much.  Tea is always better when shared with a friend.  

A Fall Breakfast

I love watching food shows on the Discovery + channel and I'm particularly enjoying Joanna Gaines new Magnolia Table: At the Farm series.  In the most recent episode of season one [episode 5], Joanna made a Maple Pecan Baked Oatmeal that looked delicious and with the exception of the 3/4 c. pure maple syrup it's quite calorie friendly - but I wouldn't recommend leaving it out because it definitely adds to the flavor.

I decided to make it this morning and it didn't disappoint.  Joanna poured a warm, spiced brown sugar flavored milk over her oatmeal, but I opted for a dallop of 2% plain Greek yogurt on mine.  It was yummy.  I enjoyed it with my usual Harney & Sons blueberry green tea.

The recipe is available at:  https://magnolia.com/blogs/recipe/maple-pecan-baked-oatmeal

Yesterday afternoon my hubby and I enjoyed going to the theater to watch Downton Abbey, The Grand Finale for the second time.  It was Tuesday $5 ticket day.

It was fun noticing things I missed the first time.  I remembered seeing Lady Mary and Edith Pelham shopping together in London shortly after the movie began, but I didn't remember the store was Fortnum & Mason and that they enjoyed tea together there during their shopping outing.  I tried to find an image of it online to share, but no luck.  You'll just have to see the movie, if you haven't already.  There's so many tea scenes in the movie [and too many cocktails! ;-)]  The British seem to love their alcohol as much as their tea.

Tomorrow will be a fun day as I'm meeting my girlfriend at the Pink House Tearoom in New Baltimore, MI.  I'll be sure to write a post about it.