Faith Family Friends

Celebrating the Joy of Living & Home Making ~

Baking, Cooking, Decorating, Tea Time, and taking Inspiration from those I love and the world around me...

A sharing of my heart and my home from a Christian perspective

...with a wee bit of whimsy added.

Monday 7 January 2013

I'm Back in Blogland & It's Tea Time!



"The birth of a New Year is a time of reflection, bringing with it an opportunity for change....for developing a greater appreciation of what is most important in life." ~ Victoria magazine


Hello dear bloggy friends and welcome to 2013~ Happy New Year  to you all. May the coming year bring many blessings your way.

I have been away on a blogging break. Actually, I really have been  away and I hope you all missed me as much as I missed you!

We celebrated an early Christmas with our oldest son and his family here on the Island and then we traveled 3600 miles or 6000 km. to spend Christmas with the rest of our family out in Vancouver, BC and our youngest son joined us from Illinois. 
 
I finally had the pleasure of meeting my little granddaughter, who is as cute as a button, I might add!  She certainly has won the hearts of her Nanny and Papa!

Today, I am tired as we got in last night from our trip but I did want to host a tea party for you. 

Now, since returning home, I have discovered that I cannot post new pictures on my blog. Is anyone else having this problem?

And since I really didn't have time to bring you a fresh new tea party, and Blogger won't allow me to upload new photos, I had to copy and paste photos from past tea parties.

Therefore, today, I decided to do a Review of my Tea Time Tuesday parties from last year and I hope you will enjoy it.


 
January was my Tea of Roses in celebration of my Tea Time Tuesday's second birthday. Year three is just around the corner.


February of course was my Valentine's Day Tea.





March and yellow roses.


In April I hosted my Titanic Tea.




May was a big celebration for my hubby and me as we celebrated our 40th Anniversary with our children.




June was lilac time.



In July we had an Anne of Green Gables Tea which was a Progressive Tea Party.



August was a simple white tea with some roses from my garden.




A Blue themed tea for September.




Our October Tea was a pink tea in honour of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.



In  November I served another Blue tea.

Once December arrives, I pulled out all the pretties, decorations, and baked goodies to host my Christmas Tea. December is always the highlight of the year for me. I love setting a tea out in front of the fire by the Christmas tree.



So, please join me today, won't you, and let's enjoy a cup of tea together. If you have something you would like to share with us, just link up and I'll go visit with you.

And if one of you knows how to upload new photos on your post, would you please give me instructions? Thanks for your help.


"I am leaving you with a gift- peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don't be troubled or afraid." ~ John 14:27


I am delighted you have stopped by for tea today! Your presence always makes my tea party that much more special and I am happy to see all your tea things, whether you have shared them before or not. This tea party is all about sharing your joy of tea time and any thoughts you might have on the subject. You may be as creative, fancy, or as laid back with your tea time as you wish! Do you have a favourite teacup/teapot or mug that you would like to share with us today? I would love to see it and I'm sure others would too!

The Tea Time Tuesday button on my sidebar is available for you to use in your post or place on your sidebar if you wish. A poem, tea quote, or scripture verse would be more than welcome! To be sure everyone has a visit, it would be nice if you visited the participant before and after your name.

Inlinkz is available below for you to sign up for my tea party.

I am joining the following parties as well~

Heart and Home ~ http://angelwingsandapronstrings.blogspot.com/
A Return to Loveliness ~ http://blissfulrhythm.blogspot.com/
Tea Cup Tuesday~ http://artfulaffirmations.blogspot.com/
Tea Cup Tuesday ~ http://www.marthasfavorites.com/
Tuesday Cuppa Tea~ http://antiquesandteacups.blogspot.com/
Friends Sharing Tea ~ http://bernideensteatimeblog.blogspot.com/
Share Your Cup Thursday~ http://jannolson.blogspot.com/
Cottage Style Linky Party~ http://lavendergardencottage.blogspot.com/
Home Sweet Home~ http://thecharmofhome.blogspot.com/



Sharing from my heart~ Sandi

43 comments :

  1. Hello Sandi
    Certainly would have been nice to sit down for a chat and a cuppa tea using one of those gorgeous tea sets.
    I can just imagine how thrilled you were to meet your little granddaughter .....don't grand-children just have a special place in their Grandparents hearts...I believe so :-)

    keep well

    Amanda :-)

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  2. Hi Sandi,
    Welcome back! It must have been a thrill to see your littlest one for the first time.Hope you enjoyed a wonderful time and wishing you health and happiness in the new year.
    I will join you for tea next week. Lovely to see your tea in review.

    Take care,
    Carolyn

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  3. How wonderful to meet your new little granddaughter for the first time! Makes me smile to think about it. I enjoyed reviewing the pictures of your many pretty tea settings, and join in wishing you a very Happy New Year.

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  4. Happy New Year, Sandi. Did you wave as your plan crossed over top the Bruce Peninsula? How nice to have been able to travel to see your new Granddaughter. Drop by to have a bowl of Colour Just North of Wiarton.

    http://justnorthofwiarton.blogspot.ca/2013/01/an-abundance-of-colour.html

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  5. Happy New Year, Sandi. Beautiful post today. Hugs, Deb

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  6. It must have been thrilling to meet the little one in the family; thank goodness for good flights.

    Good Luck with your computer issue.

    -Karen

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  7. Hi Sandi. Happy New Year! Nice to have you back! A wonderful year in review...hope this one is even more blessed!
    Ruth

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  8. Sandi,
    Lovely post!! I am so glad that you finally got to see your Grand daughter in person! How thrilling that must have been!!

    Thanks so much for hosting!!

    Hugs,
    Deb

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  9. Welcome back Sandi - so glad you had a wonderful time with your family and meeting your new grandbaby! How special. The only thing I can think about your pictures is to check your Picasa Web album account to see if you've reached the max or if you need to upgrade. Hope that helps - I do appreciate you sharing and hosting,
    Kathy

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  10. Hi Sandi. Welcome back! I'm so glad you had a wonderful Christmas with your family in BC. That is so special. I have noticed several bloggers having difficulty posting photos this past week but it hasn't hit me yet. I don't know what is going on with Blogger but I hope they can correct it soon for everyone. I won't be joining today but will be next week. Your photo highlights from last year's tea parties are beautiful. You really do such a lovely job creating fabulous tea parties for us to see. Have a great week. Hugs, Pamela

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  11. What a lovely review! Glad you had family time and vacation!

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  12. Happy New Year, Sandi! Glad you're back and to know that you had such a great Christmas holiday with family! You were, indeed, missed.
    You have a sweet collection of teacups. And, that anniversary cake looks totally scrumptious, making me crave a piece right now. I just may have to bake one. Did you make it yourself and care to share the recipe? Lol
    Hugs,
    Linda at Beautiful Ideas

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  13. Happy New Year, Sandi! I've missed you, sweet friend, but I'm glad you had a wonderful break and met your new granddaughter. I had trouble with picture, too, and had to go to a different browser to do it. I tried Mozzilla Firefox and that worked for me. I was getting so frustrated. I tried copy and pasting first, but they would X out.

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  14. Hi Sandi! Lovely post as usual; and we did miss you! Is Blogger telling you your Picasa storage is full? If so, I address that in my December 1st post. Maybe the same procedure will work for you. You don't have to pay for more storage; just resize the photos. They will (or should) still look fine on your blog. I only know about Microsoft Office Picture Manager, so that's what I use. There may be other ways to resize photos. If you can't get there by right clicking on the image you want to insert into your post, try left clicking and see if the word "Preview" is anywhere. Within its drop-down menu might be Microsoft Office Picture Manager. If Blogger isn't saying your storage is full and trying to sell you more, I'd wait a day or two to see if the glitch remedies itself. If not, you can Google the problem and see if you can find any help that way. Sorry for the long comment. Eager to see a photo of you and your new granddaughter! Happy New Year, Bess

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  15. Sandi:
    I'ts so good to have you back. Life is missing a link when you are gone. I hope your New Year is a blessed one. And full of wonderful adventures in Blogland....Auntie P

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  16. Sandi:
    I'ts so good to have you back. Life is missing a link when you are gone. I hope your New Year is a blessed one. And full of wonderful adventures in Blogland....Auntie P

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  17. Hi Sandi and Happy New Year! Oh, so many gorgeous teas to look back on here at your blog! thank you for hosting and I hope you are having a wonderful day!

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  18. Your teacups are all gorgeous, Sandi. Congrats on the little one. I had a hard time loading pictures too. The only way I could post pictures was post them into Picasa first and them upload them from there....Christine

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  19. Hi Sandi
    Welcome back! Wishing a Happy New Year to you and yours! Very glad to read about your wonderful time spent with your granddaughter and family. Sandi, I'm also having problems downloading pics, so I'm using Picasa Web album for now.
    Thank you very much for hosting every week and for all those wonderful Tea Party that you prepare for us!

    May God's blessings be upon you and yours today and always!
    XO
    ~Wendy

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  20. I am so glad to hear you had a great holiday and a happy trip! You must be exhausted! I too, was away and traveled 3,000 miles!
    Your look back is marvelous! I love seeing all the cups like this. I am sorry you couldn't post new images. I did not have that trouble today. Maybe someone else will have some knowledge of it.
    How sweet to finally get to see your granddaughter! You must be over the moon! I saw my 14 month old grandson (1 of 5 grandchildren) and it was only the second time I saw him. So I was delighted too! Great Christmas presents eh?
    Hugs and Happy New Year.
    Get some good rest : )
    Hugs,
    Terri

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  21. So glad you had a wonderful time with your beloved family on your blog break.

    Loved all the tea parties "in review." I think my fave was October since my favorite color is pink. Take care, Sandi. Susan

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  22. Glad to hear you got to visit your son, BC is gorgeous isn't it. Looking forward to seeing your little granddaughter. God bless. Betty

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  23. Hi Sandi,
    What a beautiful post. I precious MIL has Rose Chintz, too. It's so delicate...so pretty.
    Oh...How I love your blue cups and saucers. What beauties.
    Thank you for hosting and please forgive me for joining in without a tea cup and saucer in my photo. I so badly wanted to share a few of my Little Quilts with you.
    Blessings, my sweet friend,
    Carolynn xxx

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  24. Sandy, that happened to me, too - so I signed into Google Chrome as my new web browser and it was instantly fixed. I daresay it is a lot faster now, too, I hated being forced to do it, but was glad once I did!

    Your review is awesome.

    And I missed you TERRIBLY.

    XXOO

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  25. How exciting to meet your new granddaughter for the first time and to share Christmas with all of your family. Nice to see you posting again.

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  26. Sandi, welcome home! I know you enjoyed meeting the new grand-daughter. Sorry to hear you are having blogging problems. I've heard several others say the same. But it was lovely looking back at 2012 in tea! Happy Tea Day!

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  27. Wow..what a fabulous array of treasures..your photos are gorgeous..I loved your titanic tea and all the pink cups layered..stunning and enchanting!Sounds like a wonderful trip! Happy tea, joining you today!
    Victoria

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  28. Welcome back, what a lovely way to celebrate looking back on the year. It is a good job you have the photos in/on your computer to be able to upload. I'm still away and don't have the tea cups and wee little things at my fingertips so although I don't have a tea cup today I joined in with another cup. Have a good day, blessings Cindy

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  29. What a nice year in review. Your photos are so lovely and I cannot wait to see your new ones...perhaps some holiday pics from your travels?
    Here's how to post new pics. Go to google chrome and download it. With this browser, Google Chrome, rather than Internet explorer, you will indeed be able to post new pics. I had the same experience and by trial and error this is what I found worked for me.
    I'll be back for tea next week, Sandi.
    Blessings, Beth

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  30. Hi dear Sandi!
    I am so happy to be joining your lovely tea party today, as I had so much problems with my blooging! Anyway, a littler late, but here I am! Your little one must have been a dream to be with for the first time..what a blessing! I loved watching again your beautiful tea posts, sooo lovely each one. I remember the one you did for the Titanic, which I also joined the fun! Have a great week.
    FABBY

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  31. Loved seeing your BEAUTIFUL year in review "Tea Scape" photos. Welcome back! How special that you got to see your newest grandchild for the first time. I'm sure there will be lots of tea parties in her future!

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  32. Oh yes ... I forgot to mention that I also always create my posts in Google Chrome. Sometimes I tweak it in IE, but I first post the photos and do my writing via Chrome. Bess

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  33. Hi Sandi,
    Welcome Back! Love your beautiful tea time review! Hope you get a chance to rest from your travels. So happy to hear you had a wonderful visit with your family and the chance to meet your darling grand daughter. I use Google Chrome as well. Hope it works for you! Happy New year!
    hugs,
    Lisa

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  34. HI Sandi! Glad you're back and I'm so glad you got to meet your new little grand! Now no one puts on a prettier tea table than you! I loved seeing all of your past teas.
    I hope you feel better and thanks for popping in to see me.
    be a sweetie,
    Shelia ;)

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  35. Dear Sandi,
    you holidays sound great. What can be better as to celebrate with the family, whereever they are. So nice to read about your sweet granddaughter. I got my first granddaugther on Dec. 25. About the photo problem I have send you an email. But I am sure you could maka a long time wonderful posts with all the pretty photos. Its so nice to see this wonderful review of tea time. Each nicer than the next. I am really late to sign in, but I am coming.
    Best greetings, Johanna

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  36. All of your china is just gorgeous. How I would love to come to a tea party at your house. Thank you for hosting this virtual teaparty each week.

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  37. Hello Sandi.. It is great to have you back.. I also took a little brake from posting to enjoy the holidays. How nice that you got to spend time with your family and met your little granddaughter.. Happy New Year..

    I also had some difficulties uploading photos this week. I had to use another browser.

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  38. Dear Sandi..

    It seems we've all enjoyed a little teatime break in favour of the festive season with loved ones...

    I, too have missed everyone... Your post reminded me of just how many lovely tea parties that you have so graciously shared with us all ... "God Bless You" ... Each and every post has been a delightful gift throughout the 2012 year... Thank You Dear Lady.

    What a precious Christmas, meeting your little grand-daughter...How very Special is that !!!!

    Wishing you and your family health and much happiness for the New Year !!! XOXOXOXOXO

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  39. Sandi~
    You will not be able to post photos if your Picasa is full. 2 solutions! Either buy more space OR resize all your photos from now on to NO bigger than 800 x 800 pixels and they will load up fine for you.
    SHawn

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  40. Hi Sandi, Welcome back. I'm glad that you had such a lovely Christmas. I'm having the same problem with putting new photos on mine!! I had thought that it was because I posted on myt ipad when I was in hospital so it's somewhat of a relief to find that others are having the same problem. If you find the answer please let us know. Joan

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  41. Beautiful post. I'll have to share my inherited tea cups soon.

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  42. Hi Sandi, yes sweetie you were missed! I always love your tea parties. Not only are your tea sets gorgeous but you always have the best treats! Thanks for sharing your review with Share Your Cup. I enjoyed the look back. I need to do more tea posts.
    Hugs,
    Jann

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  43. Just Beautiful! Thank you for joining Home Sweet Home!
    Sherry

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I am delighted to have you visit me and I read every comment. Please forgive me for not being able to visit you all as there are so many of you lovely bloggy friends now. I will visit as much as possible. I wish you a day filled with JOY!

Also, due to the amount of spam I've been getting, I have had to set Comment Moderation. ~ Sandi

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