It’s become a Christmas tradition that every year my girlfriends and I get together to celebrate the holidays with a classy afternoon tea. This year we headed to the Ritz-Carlton across from Central Park for “flavored water” (Ann’s words), mini sandwiches, scones and dessert.

The Ritz-Carlton presents its afternoon tea in the Star Lounge, which of course is festively decorated for the season.

I was joined by Olivia, Jess, Ann…

and Claire!

During the holidays the Ritz-Carlton offers a special Nutcracker tea infused with rich flavors of the season.

Or you can do what Olivia did and order hot chocolate! How fabulous is that?!

Our sandwiches were an assortment of Mini Smoked Duck Reubens, Foie Gras Peanut Butter and Jelly, Vodka Dill Smoked Salmon, and Porcini Mushroom Duxelles. I didn’t particularly care for any of them, and prefer the classics like cucumber and egg salad.

But the scones were good! We were served Homemade Cinnamon Walnut Scones with Fruit Preserves and Devonshire Cream.

And the desserts were fabulous too! We had S’mores Tarts, Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting, Pumpkin Cheesecake with Candied Chestnuts (my favorite!), Candied Fruit Cake, Vanilla Cream Puffs and Mascarpone Tarts with Mandarin Gelée.

They even had beautiful gluten-free desserts.

After dessert it was time for our gift exchange!

My gift was a hit.

Then I told the girls that I wanted pictures with each of them in front of the Christmas tree. They began joking about who would make it into the blog post, and who wouldn’t, so like a parent trying to be the most fair, here are the pictures of me and everyone in front of the Christmas tree:

#ChristmasSquadGoals

To plan your own afternoon tea at the Ritz-Carlton, click here.

Merry Christmas to you and your besties!

~A