2022 in Review - Part II

August

Day trip to Frankenmuth

September

Autumn and Apples Tea at The Whitney

First Orchard Ridge Ladies Tea in New Building

October

Tea in TN [The tea we planned in July]

November

Visit to Yates Cider Mill

Jerry's 76th Birthday

December

Christmas Tea at Gordon Hall, Dexter, MI

Christmas Tea at Edsel & Eleanor Ford House

Church Cookie Swap

Whitney Christmas Tea - Reading A Cup of Christmas Tea

2022 Christmas Card

Christmas Eve

Cardinal Tablescape

Hope you enjoyed reviewing 2022 with me.

Wishing you God's blessings in 2023 as we begin a new year together!

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.