Tea with My Princess

My Princess Girl recently had a birthday.  One of the highlights of our children's birthdays is that they have a lunch date at Daddy's work.  I also carve out a special time with the birthday child.  For my girls, we have often gone out to tea.  Princess Girl was beyond delighted to anticipate that when I returned from my trip with Daddy, she would get to go out to tea with Mommy.

I took along my smaller point-and-shoot camera and she was eager to snap pictures as often as I would allow her.  There is this lovely tea shop downtown, which has a little store in the front part and a tea room in the back.  Princess Girl thought everything was so pretty, she wanted to take pictures of it all!

This lovely arrangement was on our little table.

We shared the Queen's Tea on the menu.  I would say the menu has improved from the former owner.   But I still think the portions are small for the price.  The nice thing about tea time though, is you're not expecting to fill up entirely on these little dainties (even though it's nice sometimes).  My favorite tea place ever is in Asheville, North Carolina!  Oh, I miss it!

This strawberry angel food cake dessert (which WAS topped with whipped cream and looked so lovely) was Princess Girl's favorite.

 And she doesn't quite appreciate the taste of most teas yet, so while Mama had her pot of huckleberry tea, Princess Girl was allowed her own little pot of hot cocoa.  She loved pouring it herself.

Isn't this little couch adorable?  If I had my own "girly room" to place it in and read, I would love it!  Though Tender Warrior appreciates flowers, I think this is a little much for him.

I think this little buffet table with all of these glass cake domes looks so attractive for displaying layer cakes and tea dainties (sorry, it's a little dark--this little camera was harder to set right for the lighting).

We will surely be enjoying more about tea as we study a bit about England amidst the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebration this week.  My Little Princesses, upon reading the American Girl Molly books, set in World War II, are quite enamored with learning about "the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret Rose."  Last night, they wanted to see the pictures in the biography I am reading.  They wanted to know where Queen Elizabeth II was in every photo and who all of the Princes and Princesses were.  It was quite fun.

Making special memories together is so important.  Our sweet little time together is a reminder to keep at those things which speak beauty and love into the hearts of my family.

"It's not the tea, in other words, that makes teatime special, it's the spirit of the tea party. 

It's what happens when women or men or children make a place in their life for the rituals of sharing.  It's what happens when we bother with the little extras that feed the soul and nurture the senses and make a space for unhurried conversation.  And when that happens, it doesn't really matter what fills the cup or holds the liquid. 

It really isn't the tea.

It's the spirit of the tea party."

~Emilie Barnes, "If Teacups Could Talk"