Holiday Entertaining with Bigelow Tea #AmericasTea #shop #cbias

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias and its client. All opinions are honest and are my own.

In September, I took the trip of a lifetime to England. I toured Bath, Winchester, and London, and saw so many amazing things! One of the best parts of the trip was tea at the Jane Austen House in Bath where I was introduced to a delicious tea blend flavored with citrus and cinnamon. I've since looked for it online and have found that it's only available in England. However, a couple of days ago, I found an excellent equivalent from Bigelow.

Walmart carries Bigelow's"Constant Comment", a wonderful blend of orange and spice flavors. I'm hooked!

Besides being the perfect flavor I was looking for, this Bigelow blend is decaffeinated. I'm thrilled because I also want to use it for iced tea. My current iced tea blend is not decaffeinated, but I'm really trying to cut caffeine out of my diet so this will be perfect! I love to serve guests iced tea and it's so easy to make up a gallon in just a couple hours. I fill a gallon jug with hot water and add 5-6 tea bags. As the water is cooling in the fridge, the tea steeps. In a couple hours, I've got refreshing drinks for everyone!

Hot tea is such a comforting and welcoming drink to serve my family and guests. It helps to have the right accompaniments to set the cozy atmosphere. My mom bought me a gorgeous red tea kettle for my birthday in October. Looks pretty great with my bright red tea box, doesn't it?

This morning, I brewed a cup to have with my cinnamon swirl toast. It was lovely. There are very few teas that I enjoy without sugar---this is definitely one of them. It had just enough sweetness, and the spice and citrus notes were subtle. I prefer a lightly flavored tea and this definitely met my expectations in flavor.

How do you take your tea? Have you tried Bigelow? I'd love to hear about your experience and how you paired it with your favorite meal or treat. 

Make sure to visit our Pinterest board for more great ideas from Bigelow!

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Linking with:
Thrifty Things Friday @ The Thrifty Groove

Inspiration Friday @ Dear Creatives
Show and Tell Friday @ My Romantic Home
Foodie Friday @ Rattlebridge Farm 
Family Fun Friday @ Happy and Blessed Home
Fit & Frugal Family Friday
Faithful Fridays

Old Fashioned Divinity

When I was a kid, my mom made divinity for every Christmas---and other times during the year too. In fact, I can remember her sometimes making up a batch on an evening for no reason other than just to bless us!

Avalon helped me make a batch today and then helped me photograph it outside. 

When we were in Oregon, our tradition was that I wouldn't make divinity until the night before the kids' Christmas piano recital. I'd make a batch of pink and a batch of green and we'd take it to share with our friends at the reception afterward.

Now that we're in Arkansas, there's no piano recital to go to and I'm a little late getting it made this year. I decided to go with blue---in honor of last week's ice storm. Ha! The earliest reference to this recipe is from 1915 and it used to be known as "Southern Candy." Fitting, yes?

Old Fashioned Divinity

2 1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. corn syrup
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. water
2 egg whites
1 tsp. vanilla

Cook sugar, corn syrup, salt, and water in a saucepan. Stir just until sugar is dissolved. Boil until temp. reaches 260º. Meanwhile, beat egg whites until they form stiff peaks. When syrup is ready, slowly pour it into the whites while the mixer is running. Add vanilla and food coloring, if desired. Beat until the candy holds it's shape, then drop onto wax paper to cool.

Linking with:
Blue Monday@Smiling Sally
Metamorphosis Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch
Craft-o-Maniac Monday  
Motivate Me Monday 
Modest Monday @ The Modest Mom 
Living Proverbs 31
Make the Scene Monday @ Alderberry Hill 
Inspire Me Monday @ Create With Joy 
Masterpiece Monday @ BoogieBoard Cottage 
A Round Tuit @ Creating My Way to Success 
Monday Funday @ C.R.A.F.T. 
Marriage Monday
Making Your Home Sing Monday

Pink Christmas for the Homemaking Party

Welcome to the Homemaking Party! This weekend we're celebrating miss Brenna Evangeline who will be 1 on Saturday! Can you believe it's been a year already?

Wow! I can't believe how fast this month has gone. Here we are a week before Christmas and I've still got quite a bit to do! Trying hard to remember the true meaning of the season: Jesus! God in the flesh, come to live among us!

I snapped a few pictures of our favorite decorations and thought I'd share them with you all for this week's party. One thing I'm excited about is my first little PINK putz house (see above)! I ordered it from Etsy last week. Isn't it cute? I've got a little obsession with them. Remember my banner from last year?

The same Etsy seller had another putz house up---a burlap one. Very awesome. In all my thrifting, I've never found a vintage putz house anywhere. That's my goal for this year---to come across one by serendipity alone!

 This little elf became part of my collection last year. He reminds me of my grandma Betty as she had these hanging on her flower pots and gave me one before she passed away. I'll have to dig it out and add it to my collection!

 Every year, my husband buys me a poinsettia. Every year, I kill it by Valentine's Day. Still, he's very thoughtful to remember this sweet tradition!

 We had mistletoe our first year married and I reused it several times before it finally started falling apart. I saved it in one of the Christmas boxes for a keepsake, but hadn't been able to find any to replace it. Now, 15 years later, I've found some! Yay!

The kids are very excited to have a fireplace this year to hang the stockings over! I've made each of these stockings as we've had a new baby. I didn't get to make one this year, though. Maybe next year! Lynzie's nutcracker collection is displayed above them. She gets a new one every year. I'm going to have to start collecting my own---when she grows up and takes them all to her new home, my mantel will be bare!

Cainan (9) dressed up his bear, Carmel, in a festive outfit and did a photo shoot with him around the house. He wanted to contribute a picture to the Homemaking Party too! Here Carmel is sitting in front of the Christmas lapbook that Cainan is working on. He's holding a present Cainan made for baby Brenna.

I'm excited to see what you've got to share! Have a wonderful Christmas week!


Linking with:
Beverly's Pink Saturday