Lily and her family started having tea with me each Christmas
when she was 4 years old.
This year Lily is 17.
What an adventure it has been to see Lily walk in my door
each year and grow into a beautiful young woman.
This year was our final tea as Lily will be off to college
and I am getting older.
The memories of each tea are precious.
They each were a themed tea from Give a Mouse a Cookie, the first year,
to this years theme, Christmas in the Village.
The menu had many repeats from previous years.
The egg salad and chopped olive sandwiches were always favorites.
Caramelized onion with roast beef and a touch of horseradish.
A new one had to be added with herbed ricotta on toasted
wontons plus red pepper and basil.
Coronation chicken was in sandwich form before,
but this time in fillo baskets.
Of course cucumber had to show up somewhere,
it formed the basket handles.
Tea time wouldn't be complete without tea.
There was a special Alishan Black tea with the savories
and Celestial Seasons Candy Cane Lane with the sweets.
The sweets were Battenburg Cake, cheesecake with raspberry sauce,
pecan pie bars.
For take home there was a sugar cookie, candy cane, and bag of tea
for a later tea break.
Each year Lily and I posed for our annual picture
and I wished her well for another year.
Thanks to Lily and her family for the precious memories.
Tea time will never be the same at Christmas,
but I thoroughly enjoyed the adventure.
PS The words I wrote on Friday's post were for this Lily.
