The Traveling Teacup celebrates with the Nutcracker Sweets!
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Welcome back to another lovely episode, where The Traveling Teacup celebrates the holiday with a fabulous Nutcracker Sweets party! Tessa Rose, the Traveling Teacup, is the honored guest of the talented interior designer, blogger, and baker Janet Lorusso of JRL Interiors!
Janet has written a marvelous recap of their celebration – and preparation for it – and as always, I’ll give you the link to her complete story at the end of this post.
Before we move on to that, let’s jog our memories of TR’s travels to date. She’s been traveling since May of 2020, so has logged a lot of miles, and a lot of adventures!
You can catch up on her first year’s travels at this post. Then she started off on her second round of travels. Here’s where she’s been since May of 2021:
A gorgeous farm in Estacada OR, the home of brilliant blogger, table stylist, and entrepreneur Renae Frey.
An exciting train ride to Santa Fe NM with the always fun and creative Albuquerque blogger, Jeanne Washburn.
Amherst OH and the home of talented tea-loving Renaissance Woman and Mantel and Table reader, Valerie.
A Stop in Ooltewah, TN over the Memorial Day Weekend to visit Lilly, a nursing professor and fellow tea lover.
A lovely tour of Paducah KY with fabulous cook, writer, and food & lifestyle blogger Leslie Watkins.
Montz LA for a visit with Tracie, who shared her beautiful home, even in extra rainy weather.
Largo FL to share a great new Halloween tradition with M&T reader Corrine and her new husband.
Historical St Mary’s City, MD as a guest of Tammy, lovely author of the White Lilac Farmhouse blog.
Harrisburg OR to bake some delicious scones with beautiful Melody at Two Mums Takeaway Tea Boxes.
The amazing Montana ranch of entertainer extraordinaire, Alexis, a long-time M&T reader who’s become a great friend.
Azle TX with wonderful reader Dolle and her beautiful teacup, Dainty Rose, for tea and friendship.
If you’d like to host your own Traveling Teacup visit, feel free to let me know in the comments below, via the contact page, or just send me an email to barbara@mantelandtable.com.
All the way to New England!
Rosie’s flight this time was a long one – 3084 miles completely across the country! She arrived in Acton MA, not too far from Boston, on a cold New England December night!
She got there just in time to help Janet prepare for her Nutcracker Sweets dessert party! Doesn’t that sound like so much fun?! I’ll let Janet tell you about it, with only a few asides from me! And be sure to go all the way to the bottom for the link to her post, where you get even more details and stories about their visit!
The Nutcracker Sweets dessert party!
Since I was planning to reinstate my annual Nutcracker Sweets dessert open house party this year, and since I use many of the teacups from my own collection at that party, I thought it would be fun for Rosie to ‘meet’ them!
We were in the midst of our first round of baking frenzy for the party when she arrived. Rosie turns out to be my good luck charm as she was here for the third and finally successful attempt to get my lemon cake for the party to release from the pan intact!
Holiday decorating
She was also here to celebrate Christmas with us and to help with some of the final Christmas decorating. Here she is checking out the stair garland.
We always use a base of faux garland and mix in assorted sprays of faux leaves along with our signature music printed leaves and songbirds.
Here is Rosie under the tree admiring the packages and bows, which we color coordinate with the tree.
The Traveling Teacup celebrates at the Nutcracker Sweets party!
She offered inspiration on setting the table for the party, and spent some time before guests arrived surveying the various dessert options.
Oh my! Isn’t that a fabulous spread?! I wish I could have gone with Rosie to share in all those delicious treats!
The Traveling Teacup celebrates with teacup friends
And she finally got to meet all the teacups! No two are exactly alike, which makes it nice – party guests can choose whichever one appeals most and it won’t get mixed up with any one else’s drink when they set it down!
Heading home
We had a lovely party and Rosie has some good memories to take home. She even got a little teapot ornament to remember her Boston trip!
Janet was so sweet! In addition to the lovely teapot ornament, which is now hanging on my own tree, Rosie came home with a wonderful little box of Christmas Cracker candy! You can get the recipe from Janet’s blog, and I’ll have to do that, because my little box is already empty! Yummmmm!
Thank you so much Janet, for the gifts, and for being a fabulous host! I’m so glad our Traveling Teacup got to share in your beautiful holiday celebrations!
The Traveling Teacup celebrates with some Teacup Shopping!
If you love teacups as much as I do and want to start or add to your collection, Click HERE for the Shopping Page. Then scroll down and click on the picture of the teacup.
This post includes affiliate links for your shopping convenience. If you click on a link and end up buying anything from that site within 24 hours, I get a small commission with no extra cost to you. It’s a Win-Win, and helps cover the cost of publishing Mantel and Table. (You can read the whole disclosure policy here.) Thanks so much for shopping with me!
And remember, a portion of anything you buy from MANTELandTABLE.com goes to Habitat for Humanity and Proud Ground. With our purchases, we get to help people build homes for their own mantels and tables!
Janet’s teacup vignette link
And here, as promised, is the link to Janet’s full story of the Traveling Teacup’s visit. You’ll want to look around the rest of her blog – she’s such a talented interior designer, it’s a pure pleasure to see her beautiful posts!
Pin the Traveling Teacup Celebrates post for later
Hi! Isn’t that fun – she does get around! 😊 And so fun that you previous hosts follow her further adventures! Hope things are going well for you out there, my friend!
It’s always such fun to join TR on another adventure. It’s lovely to share in celebrations in som many diverse places across the country. I hope there will be other travel adventures this year. Have a great week.
Lynne
Hey Lynne! That’s one of the things I love so much about this series, is seeing all the fun things people do. I never would have thought of a Nutcracker Sweets party, for instance, but it’s such a brilliant idea! I’m so glad you popped over – hope you’re having a lovely new year so far!
Barbara, I was delighted to see Tessa Rose already traveling for 2024. What a great start to the New Year. Assisting Janet with her Nutcracker Sweets Party was the perfect opportunity for TR to meet new friends. As always, she shines. Thank you for continuing to share her great adventures with your readers! P.S. Janet’s blog is full of wonderful posts. Really enjoyed it!
Hi Dolle! I was so happy to send her off to Janet – it’s always so fun to see what you hosts get up to! So glad you got to explore Janet’s blog too. You’re right, she’s got great posts! Thanks so much for stopping by – hope your new year is starting out happy!
So wonderful Janet and Barbara! I loved Rosie’s visit to Florida and seeing her many, many travels since then.
Thanks for taking me along on this year’s trips.
Kari! I think it’s so fun that you previous hosts follow along! Wasn’t Janet’s visit so yummy? I remember Tessa Rose at your place, visiting your beautiful pool! I could sure use that right about now! 🤣 Thanks so much for stopping by – it’s always great to see you!
Ah Barbara. It was so nice to see TR on another adventure! This is just such fun and what a neat way to meet other people with similar interests. TR looks like she had a great time in the Boston area and has visited more places in her life and is a more seasoned traveller than I am! I hope she is able to continue her amazing travels and thank you for sharing. I’ll pop over to Janet’s blog and leave a comment too. Happy Sunday my friend!
Isn’t it so fun?! I agree – she’s definitely more of a world traveller than I am! 😊 And so fun that she got treats with Janet. All you hosts have been so amazing! Happy Monday, now, to you! 🙂
Such a cute and fun series this is Barbara! Isn’t it amazing how many friends we can make through our blogs! Thanks for sharing another Traveling Teacup adventure!
So wonderful to see “Ropin Rosie “ out and about she was part of our Christmas card this year .
A certain cowboy is still getting teased about the teacup on his saddle …
No snow this Christmas that’s a first in a very long time .
Tessa Rose must have loved the dessert party with all those new tea cup friends , as they say
“ If Tea Cups could talk “
Haha! Yes, that was a great Cowboy & Teacup picture! 🤣 And yes, she must have loved having other teacups to talk to! SO much fun – you teacup hosts really know how to do it up right! Happy January my friend!
Oh you are so welcome Janet! And thank YOU for being such a wonderful host! I sure wish I could have gone with her to celebrate the holiday New England style! Happy January, my friend!
Nice to see TR is off and running again. This has been the coolest thing ever.
I enjoyed visiting Janet’s blog post about it, too. Thank you!
Hi! Isn’t that fun – she does get around! 😊 And so fun that you previous hosts follow her further adventures! Hope things are going well for you out there, my friend!
It’s always such fun to join TR on another adventure. It’s lovely to share in celebrations in som many diverse places across the country. I hope there will be other travel adventures this year. Have a great week.
Lynne
Hey Lynne! That’s one of the things I love so much about this series, is seeing all the fun things people do. I never would have thought of a Nutcracker Sweets party, for instance, but it’s such a brilliant idea! I’m so glad you popped over – hope you’re having a lovely new year so far!
Barbara, I was delighted to see Tessa Rose already traveling for 2024. What a great start to the New Year. Assisting Janet with her Nutcracker Sweets Party was the perfect opportunity for TR to meet new friends. As always, she shines. Thank you for continuing to share her great adventures with your readers! P.S. Janet’s blog is full of wonderful posts. Really enjoyed it!
Hi Dolle! I was so happy to send her off to Janet – it’s always so fun to see what you hosts get up to! So glad you got to explore Janet’s blog too. You’re right, she’s got great posts! Thanks so much for stopping by – hope your new year is starting out happy!
So wonderful Janet and Barbara! I loved Rosie’s visit to Florida and seeing her many, many travels since then.
Thanks for taking me along on this year’s trips.
Kari! I think it’s so fun that you previous hosts follow along! Wasn’t Janet’s visit so yummy? I remember Tessa Rose at your place, visiting your beautiful pool! I could sure use that right about now! 🤣 Thanks so much for stopping by – it’s always great to see you!
Ah Barbara. It was so nice to see TR on another adventure! This is just such fun and what a neat way to meet other people with similar interests. TR looks like she had a great time in the Boston area and has visited more places in her life and is a more seasoned traveller than I am! I hope she is able to continue her amazing travels and thank you for sharing. I’ll pop over to Janet’s blog and leave a comment too. Happy Sunday my friend!
Isn’t it so fun?! I agree – she’s definitely more of a world traveller than I am! 😊 And so fun that she got treats with Janet. All you hosts have been so amazing! Happy Monday, now, to you! 🙂
Such a cute and fun series this is Barbara! Isn’t it amazing how many friends we can make through our blogs! Thanks for sharing another Traveling Teacup adventure!
So glad you like it Jenna – I’m having so much fun with it, and I’m so happy that you follow along too! Hope you’re having a lovely week!
So wonderful to see “Ropin Rosie “ out and about she was part of our Christmas card this year .
A certain cowboy is still getting teased about the teacup on his saddle …
No snow this Christmas that’s a first in a very long time .
Tessa Rose must have loved the dessert party with all those new tea cup friends , as they say
“ If Tea Cups could talk “
Haha! Yes, that was a great Cowboy & Teacup picture! 🤣 And yes, she must have loved having other teacups to talk to! SO much fun – you teacup hosts really know how to do it up right! Happy January my friend!
Thanks so much for sharing Tessa Rose with us for the holidays! She is the perfect guest!
Oh you are so welcome Janet! And thank YOU for being such a wonderful host! I sure wish I could have gone with her to celebrate the holiday New England style! Happy January, my friend!