Christmas tree and Golden Moon tea

The Christmas tree on the village green is lit. This year it looks quite lovely. I guess there wasn't much money last year because it really looked like Charlie Brown had decorated it. When I was growing up, we always had “Charlie Brown” trees, as my father hated to get one until the last minute, so only the scraggy ones were left. When my parents decided to go artificial, wouldn't you know it, that's what he got, another pathetic tree.
This year we decided not to do a tree or much decorating as the kittens are still in that crazy destructive phase and we don't want to put temptation in their way. That happened another Christmas when our sons had come from Florida. We put a tree up and before we got anything on it, the kitten was up it and chewing on the light cords. So we put on a couple boxes of candy canes and one string of tiny white lights. It looked very peculiar, but it was a tree. The boys haven't been back for Christmas since. Maybe they should bring a tree.

I saw this great offer from Golden Moon teas, 31 samples for $19. Fits in my poor beleaguered budget, so I thought, why not. They came in a nice woven basket, even, so no one knows just how much tea this crazy woman has! The first one I tried was Moroccan mint. Green Gunpowder tea with mint oil and mint leaves. Ho boy, minty! The scent, everything is quite minty, but in a really pleasant way. Really delicious. Not much taste of green tea, but it is very tasty and warming.

My husband loves licorice and it just so happens that another of the samples included White Licorice. As soon as I opened the packet it smelled very much of licorice. The dry leaves and buds were huge and there were nice big chunks of star anise, which is licorice flavor. The scent lessened somewhat as it brewed for 4 minutes just below boiling, but was still very present. I am not a big licorice fan, but I tasted it and although it was delicate, it was not shy and it was quite good. My husband really liked it. Aha, Christmas present!