I like holiday traditions.

They get you into the holiday mood.

For me, it doesn’t feel like Christmas unless I’ve watched Die Hard (yes, it’s a Christmas movie and I haven’t watched yet for the season), smelled black cake baking (Mom baked on Saturday), and Christmas Eve service at church.

I also love spending time with family and friends–and that, my readers, was this weekend. We started off with a rousing karaoke competition at a friend’s house. Why was Hubby bigging up his chest that he, and his off-key self, got the high score? LOL! Whatever, buddy.

Saturday afternoon, my sister, sister-in-law and some friends decided to celebrate the holidays with traditional afternoon tea at the Windsor Arms Hotel’s Tea Room (18 St. Thomas St., Toronto). Tea is normally $45 +tax (Saturday and Sunday), but because we are so close to Christmas, we paid a premium and it came to $55 +tax. Worth every penny.

We had a great time and jokes galore.

Aside from having someone’s car break down and CAA taking more that four hours to come for it–(yes, over FOUR hours–and no explanation of why such a delay. The weather was dry–it was cold, but not the polar vortex we lived through in 2016. This was good old-fashioned Canada cold winter weather)–we had a blast!

Back to tea! The Tea Room has a pretty big selection of teas–from fruity tisanes to full-bodied black teas. I had my own pot of Earl Grey with blue flowers which was just lovely. Once you choose your tea, the food comes. We were a table with significant allergies and intolerances. Nuts, coconut, shellfish, seafood and gluten.

We make things interesting 😉

We had four towers of tasty treats. My favourite was the Prosciutto Roll with Fig, Arugula and Chevre. So, when the food came out, my friend was like, “this is it?”

*blank stare*

For foodlets, as we sometimes call these mini delicacies, it was deceptively filling. I was legit busting as I stuffed the last piece of scone with clotted cream and strawberry preserves.

Between the food and the jokes, our two-hour tea service went by in a flash.

But, my friends, the fun had only begun. We had to wait for CAA to come tow my friend’s car that had, luckily not broken down on Bloor St., one of the busiest streets in downtown Toronto, but on a back street just beside the hotel.

What do you do when you’re waiting for HOURS for a tow?

You take photos to capture the moment!

The staff at the hotel was great and made sure we were alright as we waited an additional two hours after tea was done.

Half of us left before the tow came and the other half waited until CAA finally dragged their raggedy backsides to the hotel to get the woman’s car. Chupse.

Aside from that nonsense, we had a great time.

Already in the calendar for 2018.