I got a little fake Christmas tree at Walmart without a clue what I was going to do with it. But setting it up in the kitchen, I got an idea and made myself happy.

Behold my tea tree!

The teapot/teacup ornaments I already had. (Do other people fall victim to silly things like those? I hope so.) But I went through my cupboard and started donating teabags, labels and such to the cause. I put in one of the bags of Ceylon tea brought back from Sri Lanka by a church friend. I added in the chamomile that I go to when I really, really don’t need a caffeinated tea. With a sigh, I even donated a teabag of my precious Christmas blend — my annual guilty pleasure purchase from the Hall’s department store in Kansas City. Twinings, Tazo, Lipton and Hartman & Sons are all helping me make a merry little Advent season. None of that is very religious of me, but I cracked myself up with this, so I thought I’d share.

Oh, and by the way, just so you know that Greg does get to assert his manliness in the seasonal decorating, there’s also … Tommy Bahama tree. A little harder to make out in a photo, but it sports little TB ornaments of shirts, woodies, surfboards, porpoises and fruity drinks. Oh, and the winning poker hand. Again, not the Orthodox-as-anything portion of our decorating efforts. Just a wee bit of fun.