Tree Decorating and my first experience with BLOOMING TEAS!

I spent most of yesterday at my grandmother's house, setting up her Christmas tree-- this mammoth 7 or 8-foot tall thing that took HOURS to string lights on, etc etc etc.

It was actually pretty fun, though. And I discovered while I was there that she has a clear glass teapot and a bunch of different blooming teas! So I got to have the honour of opening the teas for the first time, and trying a couple. I even took pictures-- inspired, of course, by Tairalyn at Lah Tea Dah.

I want a glass teapot SO badly... but after what happened with the first (and only) glass teacup I bought... not likely to happen anytime soon. What happened to it? Well, after one and a half days of owning it, Rory bumped it off the coffee table and it fell onto a bottle of Jones Soda and shattered. I was so sad, and he felt so bad about it (poor guy).

Since then, I've stuck to ceramic mugs at home and my Contigo stainless steel travel mug, which I bought at Costco. Those mugs are SO ridiculously durable... we took ours with us when we went camping in August. A couple nights nights we filled them with hot chocolate or whatever and take them down to the beach with us (to go star gazing, something that you really can't do properly in Edmonton). Those mugs got dropped, kicked, tipped over... and spilled absolutely NOTHING. Plus, they retain temperature for hours, so they're perfect for me to make my tea in every morning and take to work with me.

ANYWAYS: Pictures from tree decorating yesterday! And don't be snarky about how blurry some of them are ;) I know that I'm awful with a camera sometimes, hehe.

The full-sized version of this picture is rather blurry, hehe. Such a tall tree! I think it's probably 7 or 8 feet tall? I almost killed myself putting the lights up at the top. And Rory did the angel once he got there from work. :)

The "filler ornaments"-- My grandma has a collection of ornaments from Russia and Hawaii that fill up most of the space on her tree, but these are the ones we used to break up the non-stop dolls. 

I think my Grandma said that this is Grandfather Frost?

and GF Frost's female counterpart. No idea what her name is.

Last but not least, a sneakysneaky picture of Grandma Lynne adjusting one of the ornaments. :)

As tiring as it was to set up / do all that decorating yesterday, it was really fun. Plus, my sister came over too. And I hadn't seen her in a couple weeks.

Now, as for the blooming tea... The first one I tried was a white tea with peach. Definitely not the same quality as the teas from DavidsTea, but still yummy and fun to try.

Steeping... I had to poke the ball down to the bottom of the infuser with a fork and hold it until it absorbed enough water to stay put =P

Completely open! Isn't it pretty?

And then, of course, I had to pull it out of the infuser and put it on a plate. I think it's quite pretty, in a weird sort of way =)

The fully-steeped tea. A bit dark for a white tea, and not quite as flavorful as some I've had, but still pretty (and rather yummy!)

I think I've nerded out enough for today... so I think I'll publish this entry and go be productive (aka wash dishes, boo.)

Wait, one more picture!

An early-morning picture from last weekend... I think it's quite pretty! As much as I hate the cold, winter sure is beautiful sometimes.

Okay, that's it. Andraea out.