Christmas Advent Calendar, Day 5: Attend a Holiday Tea

For years, I've wanted to attend a holiday tea around Christmastime. It sounds like such a magical event -- wearing pretty dresses, sipping tea and eating tiny sandwiches over laughter and conversation with friends and family. There are several Christmas teas around the Twin Cities, but they typically fall over weekends when we're at the lake cabin. The logistics never seemed to work.

This year, I held my holiday cookie party on a Friday evening and coincidently, my longtime friend Val invited me to attend a holiday tea at her church the following day. The kids would already be at the cabin with Andi for the weekend, so the timing worked perfectly. I was so excited!

Saturday, I met Val at her church for a lovely women's holiday tea. Each hostess (including Val) festively decorated their table and attendees were encouraged to come see all the lovely displays, then stay for tea and a program afterwards. It was simply amazing to see all the creativity that went into this event! Each table (and their had to be at least 100 of them) was adorned with beautiful Christmas decorations. Not one looked alike; one gal hung glitzy chandelier candles above her table; another went rustic with wooden chargers and reindeer-stamped napkins. Some were tastefully simple and others were quite extravagant. I loved this one with floating flowers, greenery and cranberries in glass bowls.

Val's table was very elegant. She used her wedding china (how special!) and made each of her table guests a red holly wreath to take home. The meal was served buffet-style and everyone at our table shared in delightful conversation while we ate.

Afterwards, the large group of women gathered together for a program. We sang carols and listened to the story of Jesus. It was such an inspirational afternoon and the perfect way to enjoy the spirit of Christmas. Thanks so much to my friend Val for inviting me to take part in this special day!