A Snowflake Tea Party

It's January.  But there's no snow here.  There's actually sun, which we are very happy for as well because it too is rare this time of year!  We wish for snow and even pray for it at times.  It doesn't happen here near as often as we'd like.  But we're going to pretend and talk and decorate as if there were snow.  It's January and something special is in order.  My little Princesses have been begging for a real tea party (as opposed to their frequent pretending with their play tea sets).  So with some last-minute inspiration we pulled this together.

 When I make tea parties I do like to do the extravagant.  But not always.  And in this case, there wasn't time.  Sometimes simplicity is all that's called for--and children are equally happy.  I went with a white and blue theme--something that looks wintry.  I've seen some beautiful all-white and elegant winter snowflake tea party ideas out there, but that wasn't going to be for us today.  Instead this is a more child-friendly and simple, but lovely occasion.

The decorations:  Our paper snowflakes made together that hang each year.  A little tree with some paper snowflakes sprinkled throughout and some pinecones.  So I guess you could say my theme was kind of a woodland winter.

The food:  Anything close to white we could come up with on short-notice.  We made snowflake cream-cheese and lemon curd tea sandwiches.  I splurged and bought Pirate Booty "chips" and sour cream and onion bunny crackers.  White cheese, pieces of banana, cucumbers (that turned out to be a bit green) and the must-have snowflake cookies (made with these cookie cutters) that the children made.  I had visions of making white cocoa, but since I could not find any, we just had cocoa with some whipped cream on top.  Truth be told, I'm not a fan of white chocolate anyway (it's not really chocolate and it just tastes like sugar to me).  Heated and whipped up eggnog would have worked too, though it seems stores aren't selling it anymore so you'd have to make the homemade variety.

During our lunch we talked about winter activities we dream of doing--sleigh rides for my horse-loving Country Girls, skiing down a mountain fast and making a bona fide snow fort with one of those cool snow brick makers for my Young Warrior, building snowmen and snow horses, and cross country skiing in the countryside for me (along with all of the previously mentioned activities, except that I'm not so sure I'm likely to ski fast down mountains anymore).  We read some winter time poems from Favorite Poems Old and New, including my favorite, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening."  We just tried to linger here awhile and enjoy it all before it was time to move on to other chores and work of the day.  I so enjoy finding opportunities to bless and lift spirits with a little bit of beauty.  It was just what we needed for today.

The weather forecast is mentioning snow.  We are hopeful.  Whether or not it materializes, we enjoyed our little imaginary jaunt in a winter wonderland.