Merry Christmas!

Hello Everyone,

Christmas is finally here! I hope everyone is having a very Merry Christmas! Just a note to everyone about the hope that was sent to us through our Savior Jesus Christ. He is definitely the reason for this day we gather with family. I pray each and everyone makes a place for this hope in their heart. There was no room for Him when He was born on this day may years ago. So remember, by allowing room for Him in your life can give Him the opportunity to express Himself to you and those around you for today and many days ahead.

God Bless,

Trina Belle

Giveaway Winner Announcement!!

Hello Friends!

As you may have noticed, we had a giveaway open this past week. We wanted to give back to our blog followers to say that we appreciate you. We also wanted to celebrate reaching 3000 page views, which to us is unheard of! So a huge thanks to each and everyone of you that continually return back to our page to support us.

Now that the giveaway is closed, it is time to announce our winner! I used this free random selector online to choose the winner to insure an unbiased selection. Drum roll please.

The winner of our giveaway is...

JILL STAGGS

Congratulations!!!! Thank you to all that participated! I hope everyone has a very blessed Christmas Eve, and be sure to check back tomorrow for our Christmas Day post!

Merry Christmas Eve,

Tilly

Christmas Decorations

Hello Everyone,

 

Merry Christmas to all! I just wanted to share some of my holiday decorations around the home before the Christmas season was over. Striking holiday decorations can be created quite simply and beautifully done with little time or money.

 

Starting from the out side in, I brought a lot of festivity to my front porch by taking some fresh cut evergreens from my front yard and placing them in a pot. I then took some branches from another tree, spray painted them red, and also placed them in the flower pot. Finally I added in some extra Christmas decorations and voila! Simple, easy, and cheap front door décor!

 

 

I won't comment much on this as it is just our main Christmas tree. It sets in our foyer as soon as you walk in the home and always takes guests' breath away. The key to do so is by adding in TONS of decorations. When you think you are done decorating your tree, think again and add some more. 

 

One main décor item in the living room is this chalk board. It is unbelievably cheap to draw on a Christmas themed picture or words, which is what we did. My son also sets up his Christmas Lego train every year to weave around the presents.

Also in the living room, I have a buffet with silver candelabras and a silver tea set, but what really brings the Christmas vibe to this area is the reindeer accent pillows I found from the Dollar General!

I hope you enjoyed these pictures! Have a very safe and wonderful Holiday!!

Merry Christmas,

Trina Belle

Santa Tea

Hello Everyone,

It is undoubtedly the most exciting time of year! It’s when every child has that certain glimmer in their eyes and one thing on their mind: what to put on the ole list to Santa Clause! Every child has that image in their mind of that jolly old soul who will bring them goodies and fill their stockings with treats. So why not take this enchanted Christmas theme and turn it into a lovely tea time to spend with your child. With just a few Christmas items you have laying around you could make up perfect tablescape that would make a perfect lifetime memory and tradition. While serving tea you could tell Christmas story’s and write out a letter to send to Santa. What an inviting time you would have! Cupcakes and cookies would be a wonderful thing to serve and that’s the exact treat Santa would love. If your child does not like tea, no problem, just serve whatever they like in a teacup. It’s the memories that counts and believe me drinking anything out of a tea cup makes it more fun.

I found this very inexpensive Santa teapot at TJMaxx but you could use any teapot you have laying around the house. I placed a tree ornament around a plain white teacup and it really made it pop with Christmas. I just gathered up a few items I already have lying out to decorate for Christmas and made a wonderful display to have a good holiday time. I hope this inspires you to want to have a childlike time for Santa inspired tea.

God Bless,

Trina Belle

Poinsettia | A Brief History

Hello Friends!

This week we will be putting a post up everyday until Christmas. Today I thought we'd kick off the week's holiday posts with a history of poinsettias. Poinsettias are traditionally used around Christmas time and are known for their red and green color. Poinsettias were brought to the United States in 1825 by Joel Roberts Poinsett (which is from whom their name derives from), and were brought to Mexico from Egypt! In Mexico they are known as Flor de Noche Buena, which translates to Christmas Eve Flower. Poinsettia were not associated with Christmas until the 16th century when the legend of a young girl too poor to present a present for the celebration of Jesus' birthday placed weeds in front of the church alter, as instructed by an angel. The weeds sprouted to resemble the poinsettia we know today. The star-shaped leaf pattern of the poinsettia is also said to symbolize the Star of Bethlehem, and the red color represents the blood sacrifice through the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, further tying it in to Christmas traditions.

A couple lesser known facts about the poinsettia includes that the poinsettia is toxic. Although the poinsettia's toxin is only mild, if the toxins get inside an eye cavity the eye will temporarily go blind. Another fact is that the poinsettias are different colors throughout the seasonal year.

Happy Holidays,

Tilly

Our First Giveaway!! (CLOSED)

 Hello Friends,

Today is an exciting day because we get a announce our very first giveaway on our blog! The first item in the giveaway is a box of Clover Valley 100% Natural Green Tea. The second item in the giveaway is a brown teapot we picked up in Amish Country antique shopping. The final item is my favorite, a Alfred Meakin Fair Winds teacup and saucer made in Staffordshire, England. The print on the teacup is brown and shows an 1830 New York Harbor.

 

There are three steps to entering the giveaway:

1. Subscribe to our email updates on the side bar.

2. Share this post on Facebook.

3. Comment on ANY post on our blog (we can see all the comments). To comment, the blog will ask you to log in with an account. If you do not have an account, select Anonymous and type your name after your comment. An example will be commented on this post by me. Every comment will be counted as an entry as long as 1 and 2 are completed, so comment as many times as you like!

Entries will be accepted now through 12:00 PM December 24, 2015. The winner will be chosen randomly and we will contact and announce the winner on Christmas Eve. If you have any trouble please contact myself or my mother!

Good luck,
Tilly

Flashback Friday | Christmas Eve Dessert

Welcome back friends,

This Flashback Friday is looking back on our Christmas Eve dessert. Mother and grandmother usually handle the main course on major holidays. This leaves me free to think about my favorite part of the meal: dessert!! This past Christmas I received some inspiration for a blueberry cake while looking through a tea book. I tweaked their recipe a bit and went for a white cake with blueberry cream cheese icing topped with blueberries. The cake was not my favorite, but it was something different to try (I think I added too much blueberry cream cheese to the icing for my taste). Something I learned through trial and error making the cake, don't put freshly washed fruit on your cake! Wait for the fruit to completely dry. If you put them on wet, it will leave stains in your icing, trust me!

 

 

 

I also made blueberry scones and sugar cookies as back up desserts (they were pre-ready mixes). The tea we opted for was Cinnamon Apple Tea. For the place setting we had snowflake placemats, red and crystal dishware, and a simple ornament bauble centerpiece. Very Christmasy!

Feel free to leave any questions or comments below!
Talk soon,
Tilly