Tea Time & Picture Study

Tea time has been a regular weekly event in our home, that I have allowed to fizzle out. As we begin to look forward to the new homeschool year, I am planning to re-introduce Tea time in our home.
The focus of tea times past, where the seasons & festivals of the christian year.
We would spend the morning making fairy cakes & at afternoon tea, we would read a little relating to the season/festival, make a related craft (such as beeswax candles at Candlemas) & then enjoy tea.
This year, we will begin Charlotte MasonstylePicture Study.
My plan for our Tea times follows:
We will begin by setting the table with our best linens, Tea set & other pieces of family china. We eat dinner very early,(5pm) so i will just be serving one type of treat, such as Cherry and Almond Crunchies & something delicious to drink, such as fruit tea.
We will be studying an artist for a six week block, each week a new art work, which I will introduce at our tea time.
As we eat & drink, we will discuss the art work & I will ask the girls for a brief narration of the work. We shall be listening to Classical music, playing softly from our current composer.
I will also be using this time to instill in my girls good manners & etiquette.There wont be too many rules of etiquette, just a few, and I will explain the reason why manners are important (to treat one another with love and respect and kindness). I love the following quote:

Manners are the happy way of doing things
Ralph Waldo Emerson

So true!
Here are some examples of good manners that I would like to focus upon:
~ how to greet one another
~ no talking with your mouth full, so take tiny bites
~ don't make a lot of noise when you stir your cup
~ don't talk about what food you like and don't like
~ try a little bit of everything
~put your napkin on your lap and don't put it on the table until you are finished eating.

Once we have finished with our tea, if time allows, we shall complete a project related to our current art work from this book. or, if time is running short, will will make a quick sketch of the artwork & comlete the book's activity at another time.

Before I finish, i would like to share this great tea time resource I found. I hope you find it useful, too.