time for one more cup of tea

Hello, and do step in out of the cold!  It's lovely to have you round for another monthly cuppa and gossip.  I've got the pot warming so do shake off your umbrella and let me hang up your coat while we wait for the tea to brew.

How is November treating you?  I must confess to having a bit of a love-hate relationship with November.  I wish it weren't quite so dark and rainy, and while I love the preparations for Christmas, I can't help feeling that we're not quite there yet.  School is also keeping me busy, and I'm hoping to clear the last few reports and meetings with parents before the festive season really begins.  That way I can really enjoy my favourite time of year when it arrives!

Ah, the tea is ready.  It's vanilla flavoured, nice and sweet.  Do have a splash of milk. Shall we have a little bit of chocolate to go with it?  There's something quite luxurious about chocolate in the winter. Do you feel Christmassy?  I've got my shopping mostly done and I've been working on a few crafty projects too.  That's the good thing about cold dark evenings; excellent crafting weather!

I can't help feeling a little melancholy as this is the last time we will meet like this for the foreseeable future.  But actually when I think back over all our previous times for tea, I realise it's been going on for quite some time, and we've shared many a pot of the good stuff in all sorts of lovely locations! I got out a few old photos from cups of tea past, and can trace a little history from crafty cups of tea at home right through to posh cups of tea at the Ritz!

Having said that, it seems I can't help myself when it comes to taking pictures of tea.  Going through my photo collection through only the last 4 months produced all of these tea-themed photographs. Which makes me realise that actually the lovely ritual of social tea drinking will continue after all.

Do you ever look back through your photo library?  It's something I've found myself doing quite regularly of late, ever since doing my summer photography project.  I've really connected with photography again, and I love it! However, flicking through pictures on my laptop has made me wish that they were more readily available.  I feel a new year's project coming on: get those photographs up on the wall!

Would you like a top up?  I'll pop the kettle on.  I've been doing quite a bit of knitting lately; I never really thought I'd become this engaged in knitting but trying out exciting lacy patterns has really made it interesting and engaging! I love that feeling of a new challenge, and now find myself hunting out patterns that will teach me new techniques.  Plus it's nice to keep my hands busy when I commute to and from work.

I've also done a little bit of scrapbooking - keep an eye out for that shortly!  Fitting in the scrapbooking has been hard though. I really hope to make time for that most favourite of hobbies over the school holidays, as I really miss it. How do you find time to craft?

Well, it's very definitely dark now, and I'm sure you want to hurry home before the rain starts again.  It was so lovely to have you round - don't be a stranger!  And you never know; we may bump into each other again one day! Have a wonderful Christmas, and my best wishes for the new year.

If you want to share one last cup of virtual tea with other corners of the internet, head over to Abi at Creating Paper Dreams.  The tea posts were her inspired idea and you can find lots of bloggers to sit down and enjoy a cuppa with. While she is sadly retiring the Time for Tea posts, it has been lovely to sit down each month and share a pot.  Here's to one last biscuit.

Kisses xxx

P.S. And if you're ever in London for real, and would like to go halves on a pot of tea, you know where to find me.