2022 in Review - Part I

Most of my Christmas decorations are still up [and will be for a little while longer], but in the stores [except for clearance areas] Christmas has come and gone and it's all about Valentine's Day now.   Before the new year progresses much farther, I decided to put together my 2022 review and get it posted.  I only wrote 102 posts in 2022 [the smallest number of posts since I began blogging in 2012], and many of them were tablescapes and teas, so here we go...

January

An estate sale in Imlay City at the historic Palmer House resulted in the purchase of several pieces of Crinoline Lady dishware.   I was SO happy!

I used them at a tea luncheon for four guests a few weeks later.  

February

My biological odometer rolled over another year!

Valentine's Day is always a special occasion at my house, and I began dabbling in charcuterie. 

March

Paczki Day - A Detroit area Polish tradition on 'Fat Tuesday' - the day before Lent begins.  I celebrated using my Polish pottery.

I always celebrate St. Patrick's Day since I am of Irish descent on my mother's side.

A Black and Gold tea luncheon for four friends

2,000th Blog Post Giveaway - A Tea-themed Stationery Basket

April

I had fun photographing all my Easter teapots [6 of them] but this was my favorite picture.

Daffodil China Tablescape [Black Knight China, Hohenberg Bavaria]

May

Cinco de Mayo 

Hat Presentation for St. Martin de Porres Women's Group

Memorial Day Tablescape

June

 

Celebrating Eleanor Clay Ford's 126th B-day at Edsel & Eleanor Ford House

Celebrating our 56th Wedding Anniversary at Cadillac House in Lexington, MI

A Fun Front Porch Makeover [new outdoor rug hadn't arrived yet]

July

4th of July

Strawberries Galore! 

Tea Friends Reunion in Defiance, Ohio

Fun Trip to Collierville, TN [Memphis area] with my son, Jeremy, to plan a tea party for Seniors.

To be continued in Part II...

National Hot Tea Month

January is designated as National Hot Tea Month.  I Googled images for this post, and my own image from 2019 was amongst the images displayed!  At my house, every month is hot tea month, but it's especially good on the cold wintry days of January.

Did you have a nice New Year's Day?  Hubby and I stayed in and relaxed while watching movies. I'm not from the South, nor am I superstituous but I fixed blackeyed peas and cornbread for dinner.  First time I've ever made them from scratch [dry peas/beans] and they turned out so tasty, and very healthy.  I opted to leave the collard greens off the menu though. Do you eat blackeye peas on New Year's Day?

[Internet Graphic]

I'm so excited to share the photo below with you.  A former J.L. Hudson's department store employee started collecting vintage Christmas pins in 1976 when she was a manager.  In response to yesterday's post about vintage Christmas brooches, she sent me a photo of an exquisite, one-of-a-kind necklace she made with some of her Christmas tree brooches.  She said she's been asked many times to sell it or to make other ones to sell, but her original is enough for her.  Almost makes you want to start collecting vintage Christmas Tree booches, doesn't it?

She said she has about 100 more Christmas brooches and she uses some of those to decorate a table top tree.  Thank you SO MUCH, Nancy, for sharing.  And thanks to Miss. Merry and Joy for leaving comments too.

Last October, Lorna Reeves, editor of Tea Time Magazine, contacted me about an article Jane Pettigrew was writing about tea cozies to appear in the Jan/Feb. 2023 issue.  In Lorna's research, the Internet led her to me because I had blogged about my traveling tea cozy and Crinoline Lady tea cozy [although I didn't know that's what she was called until I read Jane's article].  She asked if I'd be willing to let Tea Time Magazine use my photos, and, of course, I said yes.

My Jan/Feb 2023 issue arrived in the mail recently.  I love this magazine and have every issue since it began in 2003.  

Jane Pettigrew's article is titled, The Timeless Charm of the Tea Cozy, A "hat" for a teapot, and it appears on pages 76-78.  Both of my cozies are on each side of the centerfold.

For Christmas this year I treated myself to a new felt Union Jack patriotic tea cozy from Harney & Sons.  

I moderate a Facebook group for the ladies of my church and the adorable photo below came through my Facebook feed.   It was too precious to not share.   1 Timothy 6:17b goes perfectly with the picture: ...God richly provides us with everything to enjoy.

[Internet Photo]

Happy New Year 2023!

This is the first time I've written [or typed] 2023!  May the New Year bring you many blessings!

A member of a department store Facebook group I follow posted a picture of her mother and grandmother's Christmas jewelry she inherited [photo below].  It was a fairly large and beautiful collection of jewelry from Christmases past - mostly Christmas trees.  It reminded me of Angela McRae [who loves all vintage Christmas things, including jewelry] at Tea With Friends blog.  Do stores even sell Christmas jewelry anymore?

The post prompted me to photograph my small Christmas jewelry collection - which is mostly all my mother's except for the two pairs of poinsettia earrings and two brooches on the right outer edge [red bow and gold bell].  The large, gaudy, gold sequined star is also mine.  Totally out of character for me, but I saw it in an antique store a few years back and bought it.

I am curious if you have a collection of Christmas brooches - either yours or one that belonged to a family member.  Did you wear any Christmas jewelry this year?  Do you actively collect Christmas jewelry?  PLEASE come out of lurking and share.  I'm looking forward to your comments.  This could be a fun discussion while sipping tea.

Last Day of 2022

I went to church this morning [worship service was today instead of tomorrow], and the children played their bells.  So adorable and a great way to ring out the old year and ring in the new! 

Afterwards we went to Olive Garden for lunch - thank you Brandon, for the Christmas Gift Card. We're home now and relaxing.  No plans for going out to celebrate.  We'll watch the crystal ball drop in Times Square on TV.

I went through all my 2022 posts in preparation for writing 'The Year in Review' post.  It was a good year with much to be thankful for.

The rest of my day will be spent going through three new books [and maybe squeezing in a nap since it feels like Sunday].  The J.L. Hudson book I pre-ordered finally arrived and it's a BIG one - weighs about 7 lbs.  Today's a great day for browsing through it.

And two charcuterie books.  I went to a Hallmark store right before Christmas to buy a card and came out with two books!  Wonder if there's a tea-themed charuterie tray/board?

While I was finishing up this post my hubby brought the mail into my office.  I treated myself to a knee massager that had high reviews and a 60-day money back guarantee, and it arrived today. Will let you know if it works in case anyone out there in 'blog land' has knee issues like me.

Now I'm off to make myself a cup of tea to sip while browsing my books.  I wish you all a happy and safe New Year's Eve!  I'll be back in 2023!

A Cardinal Tablescape

Since I was gifted with several cardinal items for Christmas this year, I decided to put together a tablescape using all the dishware I've accumulated so far.  If you've followed my blog very long, you know I have a weakness for dishes, but I try to be reasonable and only purchase [or put on my 'wish list'] what I know I'll use.  I especially enjoy putting together themed tablescapes.

The dishes in this tablescape are gifts from two other Christmases in addition to this year - the Tartan Plaid dinner plates are from Williams-Sonoma Christmas 2017 as well as the cardinal teapot from Simpson & Vail. The Pointsettia Holly Plaid teacups by Grace Teaware, are from Christmas 2020.  I have the teapot, cream and sugar to match, but since this is a cardinal theme, I used the cardinal teapot.  I gifted myself with the Lefton Cardinal Sugar & Creamer and matching teacups in 2019.

After all the pictures were taken and the dishes put away it dawned on me I should have used my small vintage, emerald green Anchor Hocking vases with a poinsettia flower at each place setting. [Note to self for next time!]

I will probably have the photo below made into a notecard.

The salad or dessert plates from Christmas this year are Stechcol Gracie Bone China.  There's no pattern name on the backstamp, but they pair perfectly with the plates from Williams-Sonoma.  It's fun to mix and match.

I'm anxiously waiting for the Lenox cardinal napkin rings to arrive in the mail from E-bay.

Do you have a fondness for dishware and enjoy collecting them?

Christmas Day 2022

Christmas Day was a quiet, relaxing day at home.  Hubby got a roaring fire going in the fire place, we watched Christmas movies, and ate leftovers - lots of leftovers! 

My family was very good to me with lovely gifts, some of which were tea related.  A tea-themed sweatshirt from Izzy...

Tea from Ellie in a Queen Elizabeth commemorative tin...

Tea and chocolate covered cherries from Landon...  [They do know what their Nana likes!]

In addition to tea, Cardinal gifts were dominant...  two cardinal pillow covers

A cardinal figurine [I already had the lantern], cardinal table topper, and eight plaid/cardinal salad plates.  I can hardly wait to do a tablescape using them.  I ordered Lenox cardinal napkin rings on E-bay today.

I'm going to be warm and cozy this winter with a flannel sheet set [which is already on our bed], two nightgowns, and two pairs of slippers.

My Seiko watch has been faithful for over 15 years [and is still ticking], but the technicians at the clinic where I get my laser knee treatments laugh at its small face and wonder how I can possibly see the time.  ;-)  So my hubby got me a new watch for Christmas.  I'm not high tech so I didn't want a Smartwatch.  I'm very happy with my new Citizen watch with a larger face, and look forward to showing it off at Pain Free Life Clinic!  ;-)

I also received Amazon, Olive Garden, and Red Lobster gift cards.  So many lovely tangible gifts, but the greatest 'Gift' of all is God's Son, Jesus, the Reason for the season!