Proper Tea with a “Proper” Christmas

By Kathryn Ivey

After we bid farewell to our gracious new friends, the Bumps, in Scotland, we headed to the airport for what we though would be about a 3 hour adventure to London. To our dismay, our 3 hour trip turned into a 12 hour trip – literally from 4pm from the Inverness airport to 4am to the door of our hotel in London.

We weren't surprised that our flight was delayed 2 hours going outbound being that it was one day before Christmas Eve, but once we landed, we were stuck on the tarmac in a mile long “plane jam” due to all the previous delays that day. Long story short, we left the airport via bus around 3am after getting our luggage by the skin of our teeth. The bus dropped us off at a stop on a street near our hotel around 3:30 am, and then we trudged around High Street for the next 25 minutes desperately trying to find our hotel. Thankfully, an ambulance was parked nearby that had a computer and map – praise the Lord for internet! We finally checked-in to our supposed 4-star hotel (in which we were paying the cost of a 2-star hotel, thanks to Priceline) to a room with two twin beds and an ambience that made you feel like you had just reserved a room at a nearby Motel 8. Frustrated, but too tired to complain, we slept soundly praying that our luck would change.


This was taken at 2AM!


All the backlogged luggage at Heathrow!

I must say, that I have the MOST AMAZING husband in the WORLD!!!!! The next morning, while I continued to snooze, Ron got up and went downstairs “to do some work.” The next thing I knew, he had returned with a huge grin on his face. He had managed to become friends with a young, anxious new concierge ready and willing to help, to: upgrade us to the “Club Level” with a discounted price that came with a new room along with other amenities, secure us a reservation to have High Tea at the Ritz Carlton on Christmas day (usually it takes about 6 months to get a reservation, but there happened to be a cancellation), plan the day that included some shopping, attending the lessons and carol service at Westminster Abbey, and dinner at Trafalgar Square. Our luck HAD changed!

So we began Christmas Eve strolling along High Street in the Kensington area of London. People were out finding last minute Christmas gifts, and we enjoyed popping in an out of stores soaking in all things British. We headed to Westminster Abbey around 3pm to stand in line praying to at least get standing room. We made the cut and the place was packed! We followed the crowd in and came to a gate that separated the nave from the actual sanctuary. Every so often they would let people through the gate to fill in seats that were still available. Fortunately, we got two seats together near the front. The service was heavenly in the sense that the music and voices of the choir sounded like angels all around you. Our eyes were roving during the service as we were sitting in the poets' corner with monuments, memorials and tombstones of great poets, writers and musicians surrounding us. After the service was over, a gentleman seated behind us kindly brought to our attention that my chair was sitting on top of the tomb of Charles Dickens himself! Eerie, but quite appropriate! We topped off the evening by strolling by Big Ben, having hot chocolate with Baileys and a delicious meal of pheasant at a French restaurant in Trafalgar Square.





On Christmas, it was strange to not wake up and not be at home running downstairs, tearing open gifts, and preparing for a day full of family and food. However, we had decided to attend a church service at Holy Trinity Brompton, a church with mutual connections to our home church, the Falls Church, which brought us the community we were longing for. The church was lively and spirit-filled. We felt at home as soon as we arrived. We then decided to have a Christmas lunch since our High Tea was near dinner time. We enjoyed a traditional English Christmas dinner that included: turkey, cranberry sauce, brussel sprouts, sausage, parsnips, and more...we literally rolled ourselves home to take a nap and make room for tea that evening.

Now, having High Tea at the Ritz Carlton is not routine for the Iveys....but it was definitely one of the best ways to wind down Christmas day, and Ron and I decided to make it a tradition. The Ritz was wonderfully decorated for Christmas with a huge tree in the vestibule, and we dined in The Palm Court.
At our table was a 3-tier tea tray filled with all kinds of goodies: little tea sandwiches, fruit tarts, and chocolate pastries (I wanted to take a picture, but no photos were allowed). We drank about 8 pots of tea while taking in the beautiful surroundings.





Since Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were so good to us, we decided to extend our stay in London for the remainder of the week. Fortunately, we were able to meet up with our friends David and Natalie Thompson for brunch the day after Christmas. The Thompsons recently moved to London from Durham, NC for business, and we throughly enjoyed our time visiting and hearing about their life in London.


The Thompsons and Iveys

We spent the rest of our days strolling around Kensington, shopping (of course) and checking out a few museums. Our hotel was near a huge park called Hyde Park and it became a favorite spot. In the middle of the park is a medium-sized pond filled with swans, Canadian geese, Grey geese, Coots, seagulls and your average ducks. However, they were everywhere and would walk right up to you begging for food! We were in our own personal zoo!





On Saturday, we checked out the huge market on Portobello Road. I was ecstatic hoping to find some design inspirations and treasures! Well, the market was OVERWHELMING! There were so many people there you had to push your way over to the stalls. However, we had fun ambling down the street and taking fun photos. On Sunday, we left London and headed to Paris by train.





London was a fabulous way to spend Christmas, however, it was difficult not to be with friends and family during the holidays. We've learned so much already on this trip, but one of the most important lessons we have learned while away is how important community is and what a blessing it is to be in a place surrounded by friends and family. I think we often take that for granted when we are in the midst of it, but like many things, once you are removed from something, someone or somewhere, you realize what a blessing it is.

Stay tuned for the update about our amazing New Year's Eve celebration under the Eiffel Tower!

Much love,

Kathryn and Ron