Fathers Day Afternoon Tea

For my birthday my sister got me an afternoon tea  delivery, which was amazing - especially because we were living through Covid-19 lockdown so our usual cuppies out and about had been halted.  When it came to Fathers Day a few weeks later though we thought we could manage it between ourselves for our Dad, our husbands and our father-in laws. 

Between us we made...

Meringues (of course!)

Scones

Various fillings in rolls and wraps

Banana nutella mini loaves, rolo rocky road and chocolate truffles 

Mini quiches and (bought) sausage rolls 

Mini lemon cheesecakes 

Mini victoria sponges 

 We delivered our selection out to the father in laws and had a socially distanced picnic with the husbands and our own Dad.  It was really lovely.  The amount of food was amazing and all very tasty even if we do say so ourselves 🤣 

We did have a little practice run a few weeks before with just me and my sister and the kids and it went very well.  There is no wonder I am suffering from a lockdown gut but I have enjoyed the process 🐖🐷🐽

What is not to love about an afternoon tea?  Loads of food with tons of flavour and you get to keep eating until it is finished.  Need another excuse for an afternoon tea soon! 

Golden Christmas

The last couple of years I have been changing my Christmas style from tacky and cheap to gold and beautiful!  I just took a look through my previous Christmas posts and I am much happier with my decor this year :) I think I was trying to fit in too many pinterest projects into my unsuitable space. This year I put out all my Christmas junk as usual but after a day I had to have a re-do.  I hated all the red.  My tree is gold again like 2012 but I have no second tree for all the red stuff so I tried to use it all in the livingroom and it looked ridiculous.

  I bought a wicker tree basket after that ridiculous tree box I made that year haha.  I love the basket it was from my favourite shop Cox and Cox and I added my hessian bow.  Much better :)

I was given the crate from one of my friends and I still have no idea what I am going to do with it I just know I love it - but saw it sitting in my lobby with nothing to do and had a brain wave to put all my wrapped parcels in it.  I <3 it!!  I had envy from my sister's sledge she has laid out in her new livingroom with presents on it but I don't have enough space to have it laid out flat so this will have to do until I get a bigger house :)  

 My fireplace is much less cluttered after my changes thankfully

 With my garland and some lights I allowed some red to stay

 I have been doing some crafting - I do love a finger puppet!  Some felt Christmas puppets I made for Eliza.  I also made a set for my three Canadian cousins.

 Here is a little sample of my obsession from this year - china sets!  This one is not like any of my others so it sits away by itself but I actually like the gold - it matches my decorations all year round.

I have shared my favourite tree ornaments before but I got this new glass reindeer one today - I love my tiny glass collection!  Eliza was delighted too she loves those ones.  

 Here is her tiny ballerina

 A very dainty star

And a beautiful gold christmas tree.  

 I was in a little Danish Christmas shop the other day and they had tons and tons of trays for sale but all far too expensive for me - I found this one in a charity shop for £2!!!  I just added some of my Christmas and every day decorations and I love this.  Who needs a £40 tray??  I love charity shop finds!

 I bought some more gold baubles this year so I would have plenty to display.  I am not quite finished getting ready but it is only the 4th December.  I still have time :)

Already tonight I have taken the lids off these and added more tiny baubles

Here is a little look at my china collection - this is so pretty on its own I have not Christmased it up at all.  I love every piece on here - most of it came from my sister earlier this year for my 30th birthday but every weekend I have been to a charity shop and bought a jug or a few cups to add to it.  I also got a great bundle from someone selling their collection they had used for their wedding so I have lots of teapots now too - I think I will probably use these for the wedding next year but I have not totally decided.  At least I will use the cups for the present showing - vintage tea party how exciting!  Next year is going to be so much fun!