Holiday Tea & Cookie Exchange

We're back! Notice I haven't blogged for a few years. So much has happened since my last post and I have promised to catch you up on the news. Wow, I have work to do.

Saturday was the annual Holiday Tea. Each year we host a tea party on the second Saturday of November. The house is ready for other holiday events, tree is up in the foyer, silver polished and Christmas CD's dusted off. This day is a kick-off to the holiday season.

It's fun to choose a theme each year, asking guests to bring something in participation. Twice in previous years ladies were asked to bring an ornament for the tree. Oh what fun to have a sea of lovely decorations on our tree as a reminder of each friend attending!

During the Christmas season each time our eye caught an ornament, a prayer was said for that person; it became our prayer tree. Last year those attending brought a ladies gift. We donated them to our local domestic violence woman's shelter. Hearts were touched.

This year I thought of hosting a cookie exchange. What fun! The kitchen atop holly hill was a sea of cookies. Most guests brought four dozen, two dozen to sample and two dozen to exchange. This was a new experience for me. We didn't realize that it's very hard to sample over twenty varieties of cookies. What a fun sugar high! Of course I provided other tea party fare including a cheese spread, hot spinach dip, finger sandwiches, veggies, and deli picks, and hot tea. Of course!

Every cookie recipe was utterly delicious. Thank you ladies for baking and sharing. Voting for the tasters choice was no easy task. Who can think clearly after that much sugar? The winner was an orange shortbread recipe from Paula Deen. (No, she didn't join us.) Congrats Pat Wright and Reagan on your winning recipe and taking home the fresh floral door prize.

It was wonderful having each of you here. I'll be posting recipes soon so keep checking back.