**SPOILERS** 12 Days of Christmas 2013 Swap Pictures

Day One: Ellyn

Trying to find my package for Day One, and wondering if I took a picture of it or not. Still looking…

Day Two: TeaTiff – Two Turtle Doves

From TeaTiff: When I was searching and reading up on Turtle Doves it talked about love and companionship. The name of this tea is “Constant Companion”, which was very fitting. To add to it, the tea itself reminds me of Christmas time when my mom would boil water on the stove with orange peel and cinnamon. I hope you all enjoy!

Constant Companion by Gong Fu Tea Shop, and a picture.

.. and a special addition, Tangerine Blossom ‘Red’ Tea.

Day Three: CelebriTEA – Three French Hens

CelebriTEA shared a huge page of information about the 12 Days of Christmas with her tea; I’m too lazy to type it all out. What I will share however is that this tea had quite a time getting to everyone! CelebriTEA mentioned she wanted an expensive French tea for this swap, and I looked to see if I had 200g of Fauchon to share. I didn’t. So, when yyz shared Vendome Cadeau’s site with me (at the time, privately) to get Dammann Frères’ advent calendar, I knew I had to buy something for CelebriTea. I bought this, and it got to me direct from France in less than a week. Getting it to her however, took almost two weeks and just shy of $40 to get it there in some form of a timely manner. She then had to send it out again to all of us…

So really, this ended up being a lovely French tea that’s much more expensive than originally anticipated. ;)

Thé des Poêtes by Dammann Frères, and a picture.

… and a few special additions…

Peppermint Bark by Verdant and Cream of Earl Grey by DAVIDs Tea.

I have a feeling my package looked slightly different than most (a few more things) because CelebriTEA and I also did a swap and gift exchange.

Day Four: Moraiwe – Four Colly Birds ~ Common Blackbirds

I have yet to receive this one personally, however Moraiwe posted in the original thread the explanation behind the choice of tea:

“The Fourth Day of Christmas coincides with the Orthodox event of Feast of the Holy Innocents. In this they remember the infants that were killed by Herod (The Coventry Carol actually describes this event. Hayley Westenra has a beautiful and poignant cover of it, for those interested). I picked Blu Blanc to tie together the color blue, which frequently symbolizes sadness (the event), and white which frequently symbolizes purity (the children). And on a less serious (and depressing) note, the company name (Blackbird Tea Co.) fit perfectly, too.

Ingredients: Organic White Tea, Organic Blueberries, Organic Cornflowers, Organic Licorice Root and natural flavors."

Day Five: Momo – Five Gold Rings

Gold Rush by DAVIDs Tea, and a picture.

Day Six: MissB – Six Geese a Layin’

(So, this is mine, and I have zero pics of what I sent folks. Maybe someone else does?)

I had to get creative with this one, and thus added a poem in the card:

Six geese a- laying— an interesting sight.
One of them squawked, and they all took flight.
A sixth night of birds would not have brought cheer,
So for merriment and laughter, what could possibly top beer?

Butterbeer by 52 Teas, and Mugicha (Roasted Barley Tea) by Uji No Tsyuu.

… and a special addition of “goose” eggs, a package of mini chocolate eggs.

Day Seven: TeaTee – Seven Swans a Swimming

.. need to edit this one as I receive and open it…

Day Eight: Roswell Strange – Eight Maids a Milking

… need to edit this one as it hits the day to open it …

Day Nine: Khaleesical – Nine Ladies Dancing

… need to edit this one as it hits the day to open it …

Day Ten: Kelci – Ten Lords a Leaping

… need to edit this one as it hits the day to open it …