My Treasure

More birthday presents! I love it when presents pour in well after my actual birthday! Especially nice ones like this!!!
If you follow my blog you are well aware of the fact that I love Britain. Adore it, in fact. That I actually believe that before I was born my soul floated above the British Isles...

So it should not come as a surprise that I love tea. And, of course, tea cups and tea pots and all paraphernalia that comes along.

When my dear sister-in-law (my elder brother-in-law's wife) invited me to join her at the local china shop to pick my own birthday present I was, of course, over the moon! I knew exactly what to choose from and I'd already had my eyes on a precious tea cup with snowdrops from the Royal Doulton / Royal Albert 'Flower of the Month' series. But, my s-i-l, who's a very sweet and kind and generous woman (and loves a pretty tea cup herself), was adamant about my not leaving the shop without at least a pair of tea cups! So apart from the January one I also picked the March tea cup, as I celebrate my name day on March 25 ( the Feast of Annunciation).

I was absolutely sure that this was it but my dear s-i-l insisted on my choosing a few tea spoons as well... I ended up with three, June, September (my children's birthdays) and December (Christmas month, an obvious choice!). The little tray you can see above was my s-i-l's present for my birthday last year.

And to make matters even more exciting, my new tea cups match the wedding present my husband and I got for our wedding just over fifteen years ago. It came from some very dear friends from Britain - the family I used to visit regularly in my life B.C. (that's 'before children'). Some of them attended our wedding and presented the newlyweds (us!) with this gorgeous tea set. It's my best china (I love saying that!) and we actually use it very rarely - possibly on our wedding anniversary!

So, thank you, the Mackintosh family, and thank you, my lovely in-laws, for presenting me with 'a piece of Britain' (or is it China?)...