Grateful for Friendship Tea - FrenchGardenHouse

Happy Tuesday dearest friends! This is such a busy time, isn’t it? Are you deep into planning your Thanksgiving, or just beginning to think about it? Either way, I hope you might have a spot of time to plan a Grateful for Friendship Tea!

Raise your cup to friendship and welcome to November’s Tea on Tuesdays! I’m delighted to join my friends Pam and Mary today. You’ll find table inspiration and all things tea. I’ll share their links at the bottom of this post. Pour yourself a cup of your favorite tea, and please join us!

This is a good time of year to invite a friend – or a few – over for a cozy time of tea and talk before everyone gets too busy. You can plan your Thanksgiving menu together, or share old favorite – or new – recipes over a cup of tea.

Taking a little time out of the hectic is a gift. The very act of drinking tea pulls us into being present, and gives us a warm, cozy and safe space to share friendship.

Candle light makes every tea time special. Lighting a candle brings the glow of celebration to the table right away. While I love taper candles, a lightly scented candle is very welcoming in the autumn.

I was inspired for this tea time table by this antique hand painted tole tray I recently purchased at a brocante. Each little leaf and flower was painted with care long ago, and the colors are perfect for this time of year.

Count your blessings, but also make your blessings count.

Please have a few tea time treats.

I’ve had a busy week, so no baking, but I found these delicious Maple and Pecan pastries and cookies at our local Sprouts market. They look pretty enticing on this antique ironstone compote – I love the dark aging this one has, it’s perfect!

I’ll pour our tea in a vintage tea cup. This one was made by Aynsley, and has such a beautiful hand painted fruit design in the cup and on the matching cake plate.

There is something about drinking out of a delicate cup, it always makes me really pay attention to the flavor of the tea. The bowls of the cups were designed to have the tea’s flavor develop and the aroma to be able to scent the air.

Anyone besides me love antique tea pots of all kinds? This is a charming antique pewter set with two pots and a large sugar and creamer.

That the pots have those little finials on top in the shape of a leaf and gourd make them especially charming for this season.

I just fell in love with these antique French cast iron urns and was lucky to grab two for the shop before another dealer carried them off. {and got some vibey stares from said dealer, shopping antiques early in the morning with other dealers is not for the faint at heart!}

These have everything, age, weight, patina, and French savoir faire! I added a glass jar in the center for the water before creating my arrangement. The flowers all have Thanksgiving colors…the base for this arrangement are magnolia leaves with their glossy green and dark russet undersides.

I love these orange-golden yellow variegated chrysanthemums and Craspedia {sometimes called Billy Balls- the yellow ball flowers} from Trader Joe’s. A few berried branches and some twigs from the back garden complete the arrangement.

Instead of the usual plates in the rack on the wall that Mr. FGH built me a few years ago, the antique French cutting boards and antique English bread boards add another layer of seasonal warm colors.

As we ready out homes and hearts for Thanksgiving and a blessed holiday season, I hope you will take some time out for the calm, peaceful tradition of tea.

Thank you so very much for your visit. I cherish each one of you. I’m not sure if we can get around the commenting problem, but please know that I can see that you visited, and I am blessed by your visit!