Rose Chintz Cottage: 01/21/13

Monday, 21 January 2013

A Tea of Roses for Tea Time Tuesday

Happy Birthday Tea Time Tuesday!

"Another fresh new year is here...

Another year to live!

To banish worry, doubt and fear,

To love and laugh and give!"

~ William Arthur Ward - Victoria magazine

Welcome dear friends to Tea Time Tuesday's 3rd Birthday Party!
I am so happy you are here to help me celebrate! I have been blogging for a few years now and for three of those years, I have been hosting tea parties.

Some of you lovely ladies have been with me from the very beginning and I want to say a special Thank you to you for your dedication and support. Thank you to Bernideen, Beth, Carolyn, Debbie, Diann , Johanna, Judith, Kathy, and Sherry.

Since those early days, many more of you have joined me and I want to thank you too. We all have special people in our lives who encourage us and stand with us no matter what and you all bless me every week with your visits, comments, and friendship. I always feel like I'm getting a big hug. God bless you all!

Tea~ is a hug in a cup. ~ Patrick Jane- "The Mentalist"

"Make new friends and keep the old,
One is silver and the other gold." ~ Old Rhyme

I look forward to serving up tea every week and it is for me, one of the highlights of my blogging week.

This tea party today is not just a celebration of three years of tea parties; it is a celebration of you, my blogging friends. My tea party brings us together every week and it is wonderful getting to know friends from all around the world. I'm so glad you're all a part of my life here at Rose Chintz Cottage!

"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea." ~ Henry James

Today I have a special tea to share with you, a Tea of Roses, so please do come in and make yourselves at home. This is a long post, so pour yourselves a nice cuppa.

I hear that January is National Hot Tea Month in the States so I am happy to be sipping some nice hot tea today. I have Earl Grey is steeping in the teapot and I am enjoying a cup of Bigelow's Eggnogg'n Tea which Kitty sent me.

It is delicious and a real treat this time of year. Thank you Kitty!

"Come let us have tea and continue to talk about happy things." ~ Chaim Potok

For a tea of roses, one must have roses on the table and roses on the china.

Some of you may remember, my father had a favourite china pattern; Royal Albert Old Country Roses, which is one of the most famous china patterns in the world.
He however never indulged in it because I had started another pattern for my mother and he didn't want to infringe on the joy it brought me to do that for her.
He did however, purchase a couple little pieces and when he passed away, my mother gave them to me....

This little china basket is useful for holding spoons at tea time. Like the china pattern, it is adorned with red, pink, and yellow roses, as well as lots of gilding.

This adorable little boot comes in handy for many things. I have served jam in it as well as whipped cream and Devonshire cream. Today it is holding the sugar.

I have always yearned for a teacup in the OCR pattern to remember him by and last Summer, on my father's birthday, my sweet hubby gifted me with one in memory of my Daddy and I cherish it.

Then, while I was away in Vancouver visiting some of my family over the Christmas holidays, I celebrated a birthday. To my very great surprise and delight, my family chipped in on a teapot for me; Old Country Roses.

The nice thing about all this is that Hubby had forgotten it was this pattern which was my Daddy's favourite. So you can imagine my surprise when I opened the box! I couldn't believe my eyes!
So this is how I came to have this beautiful set. My family is such a blessing to me! I was concerned about how I was going to get it back home in one piece, but I managed!

Old Country Roses and my father's violin.

"There is a great deal of poetry and fine sentiment in a chest of tea." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

I chose two teacups for our tea, one for you and one for me.

This one is Royal Albert Tea Rose. It is a beautiful cup with luscious yellow roses and sponged on gold trim. Some of the roses are slightly kissed with pink.

"You're my cup of tea."

And of course, my Royal Albert Old Country Roses.

As you know both were made in England and they were both found in antique shops last Summer.

Now how about a tea treat?

I made Baby Cheesecakes for our party today. These are just little morsels of sweetness covered in your choice of toppings.

I topped them with cherries, lemon and blueberries, and whipped cream and strawberries. There are also little bars of Swiss chocolate. Which would you like?

I will share the recipe for the Baby Cheesescakes at my HOME party on Wednesday.

If you are a Follower, do not forget to enter my Giveaway which you can find on last week's tea post here. I will draw a winner tomorrow evening, January 22, and I will make the announcement on this post. So check back to see who the winner is.

UPDATE~
I have a winner for my Giveaway....... Jen @ A Garden of Threads. Congratulations, Jen! Please email me your address and I will get your package in the mail.
Thank you everyone for entering.