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Surely everyone is aware of the divine pleasures
which attend a wintry fireside; candles at four o'clock,
warm hearthrugs, tea, a fair tea-maker, shutters closed,
curtains flowing in ample draperies to the floor,
whilst the wind and rain are raging audibly without.
Thomas de Quincey
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36 Well House Drive, Leeds - 26th December 2013
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Tea Takers
Sarah Ryan
Paul Ryan
Olivia Ryan
Jean Thacker
Margaret Griffith
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Time for tea at my Mum's, in the house where I grew up. We moved to 36 Well House Drive in summer 1988 and it was the home of my late teens.
A suburban semi of no great architectural beauty, but an important formative place for me.
Tea on Boxing Day was a great opportunity to add festive joy to tea and indulge in gingerbread and other Christmas baking experiments.
Lemon drizzle cake (perhaps not strictly Christmassy, but my favourite cake, and baked in a novel tin and glittered, so it definitely counts!)
An opportunity to try out new Ikea cutters for 3D biscuits
Iced Christmas biscuits, Mars Bar 'munch' and some very lovely brownies made by Olivia
Of course, it wouldn't have been afternoon tea without scones and clotted cream so Mary Berry's recipe came back into its own. Foolishly I forgot the strawberry jam but we had lemon curd and blackcurrant jam as options, which were pleasing if not ideal.
Saucer crackers were pleasing...
...if a little difficult to pull.
The quality of the jokes was predictable
And some people thought it was appropriate to gesture with them - tsk!
Another significant artefact for the occasion was our family teapot - bought by Margie before I was born the teapot (with it attendant hot water jug, milk jug and sugar bowl) - for me it is in a way the archetypal teapot for all its seventies styling.
A suburban semi of no great architectural beauty, but an important formative place for me.
___________________
Tea on Boxing Day was a great opportunity to add festive joy to tea and indulge in gingerbread and other Christmas baking experiments.
Lemon drizzle cake (perhaps not strictly Christmassy, but my favourite cake, and baked in a novel tin and glittered, so it definitely counts!)
An opportunity to try out new Ikea cutters for 3D biscuits
Iced Christmas biscuits, Mars Bar 'munch' and some very lovely brownies made by Olivia
Saucer crackers were pleasing...
...if a little difficult to pull.
The quality of the jokes was predictable
And some people thought it was appropriate to gesture with them - tsk!
____________________
It was lovely to be able to use my Grandma's tea service for tea (bought by my Mum for my Grandparents 25th wedding anniversary in 1959, my Grandma having always longed for a rose bud tea set). When I was a child this was something only ever brought out on high days and holy days and it is a clear mark of this being a 'proper' tea party.
Another significant artefact for the occasion was our family teapot - bought by Margie before I was born the teapot (with it attendant hot water jug, milk jug and sugar bowl) - for me it is in a way the archetypal teapot for all its seventies styling.
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Thirtieth Tea - Thirtieth Year
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Margie is my Godmother and is more 'family' than many relations. She and my Mum met when teaching in Liverpool in the mid-fifties and have been close friends ever since. She has been a crucial support and provider to our family over many years - she took me on my first trip to London, took me to Austria and Venice, read AA Milne poems to me more times than any adult should have to, and was a key figure in my childhood.
The best part of sixty years of friendship and they're still smiling...
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