UCW VIRTUAL

CHRISTMAS TEA

AND BAZAAR 2020

AVONDALE UCW

ROOM 1—NO BAKE BAKE SALE In this room you were invited to tell us what you would have

baked for the bazaar bake room and deli. Or you could tell us

what you might have purchased at the bazaar. We asked for a

donation of how much you would have spent on making your

item(s) or what you might have spent.

Many of you were very busy.

November 21, 2020

Mary Helen Clifford

Mary Helen shared that she would have cooked beef and turkey, made pastry, rolled pastry and filled meat pies. “ I would have made chocolate covered peanuts. I would have filled Su-

san Elliott’s pie shells and would have made whiskey apple spice to

serve at break time while making the meat pies.”

Janice Ward

Janice shared “Had the bazaar been held as usual, I would

have donated a couple of fruit

loaves as well as a pot of chili. I

probably would have bought some

shortbread and some meat pies.

Susan Elliott

Susan is always busy making pie shells for meat pies and shells for us

to fill for the bake table. She also bakes lots of goodies for the bake

table like these traditional mince tarts and scones.

I hope Susan would have donated these

yummy lemon squares to the tea room.

They look absolutely delicious.

Barb Schoch I would have cooked turkey and beef for the meat pies. I

would have baked lots of cookies and squares for the bake

table and made 2 of my famous (ok...only famous to my

family) Winterberry Pies. I would also have been in charge

of the kitchen for the tea room and would have made my

mother-in-law’s pistachio bundt cake to serve in the tea

room. Of course I would also have found time to purchase

lots of goodies donated by everyone else!

I am sure there are many stories of bazaar baking and purchasing that were not

shared but we all know from years of experience that November would have

been a busy month preparing for the bazaar. Thanks to those who shared their

stories and many thanks to those who sent in donations as if they had attended

the bazaar.

But the best part of the bazaar is the tea room...read on for our 2020 virtual tea

room stories.

Donna Dinsmore Donna wrote she usually helped in the deli

or tea room.

ROOM 2—TEA ROOM

The second room in the bazaar was the virtual tea room . In this

room we asked you to have a virtual tea by phone, skype,

facetime, zoom or whatever method would bring you together

virtually. The tearoom was well attended by many of our mem-

bers. What a great way to stay connected. Hopefully we started a trend where you will

have virtual teas, lunches and visits with many of your friends, family and fellow UCW

members over the next months while we are still dealing with Covid-19.

I have tried to share all the stories I received...if I missed yours...let me know and I will in-

clude you in our next UCW Newsletter.

Susan and Bill Elliott Susan and Bill enjoyed this fabulous tea.

This picture brings back memories of tea rooms when we were able to serve sand-

wiches and goodies.

Susan also shared she had virtual tea with Karen Pethick.

Tea Desserts from 2019 Tea Room

Terri Sparling

“I had the pleasure of sharing “tea” with Emily (her daughter)

on the day of the bazaar. We travelled to visit her in Norwood.

It was great to take time out and sit and chat, very much like we

would have if the bazaar was in-person and she was home.

Many Thanks.”

Mary Helen Clifford “Using face time, phone and cell phone, I connected with Ruth Thomson, Sharon Chute and Emma Car-ruthers all at the same time using speaker phones.”

Tea Desserts from 2019 Tea Room.

Karen Pethick Karen had tea by phone with Barb Kyle and via Facetime with Susan Elliott

Emma Carruthers Emma is happy she had tea with Mary Helen Clifford

Jeannette Dyer, Donna Tuffnail, Diane Jackson and Faye Chessell

These ladies connected for tea and you can be sure that there was lots of chatter and laughter.

Anne Reuber I had a really good time at the bazaar teas. I had tea with three different people. Started in the morning with a friend who doesn’t belong to Avondale. We visited by Skype. It was good to both see and hear each other while we visited. I have an extra donation to make as she insisted on buying a ticket. Had tea with another friend by telephone. She has been really isolated as there are strict rules against taking risks with COVID where she lives. She had written the date and time down so as not to forget. We had a good time visiting by telephone. Missed the dessert though. Then I had tea with one more UCW friend. She had never tried Skype before, but was game to try it. Again, the conversation was wide-ranging and the company delightful. Missed the decorations, the desserts and the hum of the busy tea room, but gave thanks for the technology and the UCW bazaar tradition that allowed friends to meet and visit.

Mary Tolton

Mary Tolton hosted a Virtual Tea Party on Nov. 21, at 1 p.m. “I invited my sister and her 4 daughters. As it turned out, my brother- in- law and my 2 grand nephews also joined in. One niece resides in Komoko, one in London, England, and the rest live in London, Ont. Unfortunately, one of the girls had to work. They all chose to have lunch, even Amy in Eng. where it was 6 p.m. There were cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches, some egg salad, ham, and even some cut- outs of reindeer and snowflakes. Some were fancy with dill, mint and lemon added. There were crackers with cheese curds, Brie and apricots. Then there were desserts including lemon squares, chocolate croissants, an English scone with clotted cream and strawberry preserves, cinnamon buns with homemade rhubarb jam. Add to that Chocolate Bombs which were delightful. They came from Cream Beanery, Mt. Brydges, if anyone is going that way. Sherri and Mathias remembered to wear a hat, even a fascinator! We’ll remember that next time. The teas that were chosen were something else. They ranged from regular black tea to va-nilla, to Rita MacNeil Tea, to Buddha Blend, to Tuk Tuk Chai. What can I say? They came to have fun and they had their Christmas decorations up for the occasion.

I love this story from Mary...now that is the way to have virtual tea! She tried to send a picture

too, but it just wouldn’t co-operate.

Hilda Emerson

This was my Christmas Tea. My Brother Goldie and niece Heather were planning to do a repeat visit on

November 20th. They had visited in October. At the last minute, Heather had a sick day...not Covid -

19. Since it was to be a repeat visit, I will describe the first visit. They arrived at 1pm with a beautiful

mum for Bob and myself. After a house tour we had several hands of euchre which lead to a tie break-

ing game. Meanwhile we enjoyed snacks and Mud shakes. The afternoon was completed with tea,

cheese, crackers and grapes. The second visit would have ended with tea, pineapple angel food cake

with whipped cream and ritz cracker squares. For Goldie and Heather, it would have been a nice break

as they spend a lot time visiting Jackie (Goldies wife} who lives in a nursing home. Due to the cancella-

tion, I phoned three girlfriends who live alone. One of them was Lois Ruller. All people involved in my

Christmas tea had been at our wedding.

Barb Schoch and Sarah Elliott

Sarah and I had a ZOOM tea at 1:00 on the

21st of November. That is my Christmas tea-

pot in the background. There is a better pic-

ture at the top of the Newsletter. Sarah

served her tea in her special Wedgewood Sa-

rah’s Garden teapot which is pictured on page

5 of this newsletter. We shared a lemon

square and had a wonderful visit catching up

on all our news.

Thanks to all who shared their tea stories. I think there were lots more who had tea

and if you would like to share your stories it is not too late.

ROOM 3—SILENT AUCTION

The third virtual bazaar room was the silent auction. We thank Terri Sparling, Heather Her-

man, David MacLennan, Beth Gledall and Doris Barkley for providing the auction website

(My apologies if I have forgotten anyone). This auction was held in conjunction with the

church general membership and we thank them for including the UCW in the program.

Many items were donated and purchased through the auction. We hope you enjoyed view-

ing and bidding on the items.

CONCLUDING REMARKS 1. Thanks to all who participated in the virtual bazaar.

2. At the time of publishing we have raised approximately $2,265. WOW!

3. This fund-raising helped us meet our 2020 budget for donations to the M&S

Fund, Camp Bimini and the Resource Centre. With our “extra” funds, we were

able to donate $1,000 to the Avondale United Church General Fund. (This was

passed at the December 7, 2020 UCW Christmas Meeting).

4. Caution: Don’t try to print this newsletter...unless you have lots of coloured

ink!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE

LET’S HOPE NEXT YEAR OUR BAZAAR DOES NOT HAVE TO BE VIRTUAL AND WE WILL BE

ABLE TO GATHER TOGETHER TO WORK TOGETHER AND ENJOY EACH OTHER’S COMPANY.