Thursday, March 15, 2012

An Irish Celebration in January!

I have wonderful neighbors.  In  today's mobile  society  it's  a bit of a rarity  that  neighbors  are  original owners of thirty-four year old homes.   We've experienced a lot of life in that time, and there isn't anything we wouldn't do to help each other. 

I decided to host an Epiphany Tea for some of these neighbor ladies.  Since Epiphany occurs on January 6th, it's past the hustle and bustle of the Christmas Season, and is the perfect "pick-me-up" for post holiday doldrums.

Being the theme gal that I am,  my Epiphany Teas have all had different themes.  The first one was "Little Christmas" or "Women's Christmas" - a traditional Irish holiday.

St. Patrick's Day is a highly celebrated holiday, but many people have never heard of "Little Christmas."

The purpose of the holiday is to reward women for their hard work  leading up to, and during the Christmas holidays.   On January 6th, husbands take over the household for the day allowing their wives to relax and celebrate with each other.  Many women go out to celebrate the day with friends and/or family members - it's a traditional "girls' day out!"  

 Centerpiece for "Little Christmas"  Tea


Thatched roof cottage teapot


Irish Themed Decorations [which don't come down until after Epiphany in Ireland]


Tablescape


Little Christmas Menu:  Split Pea Soup [with puff pastry teapot on top]; Irish Soda Bread Scones with mint jam;  Shepherd's Pie;  Irish Shortbread  with Apple Crisp and Irish Cream Tea.   
May you always have walls for the winds,
a roof for the rain, tea beside the fire,       
 laughter to cheer you, those you love near
 you, and all your heart might desire.          
~ Irish Blessing


3 comments:

  1. I love-love-love this idea! Christmas is always so busy, and that slowdown after the new year is one of my favorite times of year. Planning an Epiphany Tea would be a joy at that particular time. Thanks for sharing the idea--and all your menu suggestions and pretty green teawares!

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a great theme for a Christmas tea. I do a theme Christmas tea every year and this would be a fun one to do. I am thinking something whimsical and British this year, but that is as far as I have gotten in my thinking.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visiting my blog. If you would like to leave a comment, I'd love to hear from you!