Royal Albert Christmas Tea Cup

December, at last! Thanksgiving to New Year's Day is my favorite time of the year and Christmas is my favorite holiday, hands down. I love all the food, the extra family time, getting the house and the yard decorated, listening to all the great Christmas songs out there and celebrating the birth of Jesus. 

 

This week I'm sharing a lovely Royal Albert tea cup and saucer set. I found this set at a yard sale for only $1.00! I couldn't believe it. I'm never lucky like that with tea cups, so I immediately snatched it right up.

The name of this pattern is South Pacific. I'm not sure why a Poinsettia pattern is called South Pacific, so I decided to google the flower to see if that's where it's from. I discovered that the Poinsettia is native to Mexico and was once used by the Aztecs to make colored dye. It was brought to the United States by Joel Roberts Poinsett and named after him.

I'm crazy for handles and I love this tea cup's handle with its gold design. Below's a picture of the interior of the cup. I love when china makers add floral designs inside the cups. The coloring on this set is really vivid in person, especially the red.

 A little angel that I just love!

This adorable couple that we all know as Mr. and Mrs. Claus was a ceramic project that my mom did about 10-15 years ago.

The marking on the bottom of the saucer reads: Royal Albert, Bone China, England, South Pacific.

 

 

I'd never heard the story of why the poinsettia's so closely associated with Christmas and came across this legend of the flower, from WhyChristmas:

 

"There was once a poor Mexican girl called Pepita who had no present to give the the baby Jesus at the Christmas Eve Services. As Pepita walked to the chapel, sadly, her cousin Pedro tried to cheer her up. 'Pepita', he said "I'm sure that even the smallest gift, given by someone who loves him will make Jesus Happy."

Pepita didn't know what she could give, so she picked a small handful of weeds from the roadside and made them into a a small bouquet. She felt embarrassed because she could only give this small present to Jesus. As she walked through the chapel to the altar, she remembered what Pedro had said. She began to feel better, knelt down and put the bouquet at the bottom of the nativity scene.

Suddenly, the bouquet of weeds burst into bright red flowers, and everyone who saw them were sure they had seen a miracle. From that day on, the bright red flowers were known as the 'Flores de Noche Buena', or 'Flowers of the Holy Night'.

The shape of the poinsettia flower and leaves are sometimes thought as a symbol of the Star of Bethlehem which led the Wise Men to Jesus. The red colored leaves symbolize the blood of Christ. The white leaves represent his purity."

 

I'm linking up to:
Tea Cup Tuesday at Martha's Favorites 
Tea Time Tuesday at Rose Chintz Cottage
Tuesday Cuppa Tea

Thanks for stopping by today,

Michelle

Autumn's Floral Bounty

Today's theme for Pink Saturday is Autumn Flowers & Foliage.

These daisies grow wild just around the corner from me. They're so gorgeous with their white petals and egg-yolk middles.

I photographed these yellow flowers at the beginning of October. I believe they're evening primrose. Do you see the cross in the center?

Pokeweed grows wild, too. These red-stemmed berries look so delicious. Alas, they're quite poisonous, so you can't eat them. Back in the old days, Pokeweed berries were used for dying textiles, making ink and increasing the color of red wine.

Here's a Pokeweed bush with some of the berry output shown.

 How lovely to have roses in October and pink ones, too! I don't think the buds will bloom, though. The temperature today was about 55 degrees with lots and lots of cold rain, hence the wet roses in the pictures. Tomorrow's forecast is more of the same.

Thanks for visiting today!

Linking up to How Sweet the Sound for Pink Saturday.

Tea Cup Time

Today's tea cup and saucer features a lovely floral design. The iris is pink with a little touch of lavender and pale green stems.

I love the silver trim. I believe these are the only ones I have with a silver trim.

These dishes once belonged to my mom's oldest sister, so they have a special place in my heart.

The manufacturer is Universal Cambridge, Camwood Ivory. I believe they were in business from the 1930s-1950s.

The picture below shows some of the dishes I have in this pattern. Not shown are the dinner plates, the smaller plates, dessert bowls and soup bowls. The only item missing is the tea pot/coffee pot.

Finally, one of my rose bushes decided to bloom. I'm so excited.

I really enjoy photographing flowers, especially ones I grow.

And the soul of the rose went into my blood,

As the music clash'd in the hall;

And long by the garden lake I stood,
For I heard your rivulet fall
From the lake to the meadow and on to the wood,
Our wood, that is dearer than all;
--Excerpt from "Maud" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892)

Thanks for stopping by!

I'm linking up to Terri at Artful Affirmations and Martha at Martha's Favorites for Tea Cup Tuesday.
I'm also linking up to Sandi at Rose Chintz Cottage for Tea Time Tuesday.