There are few things I love more in life than people around my table. So when Mom and I were discussing my grandma's upcoming 80th birthday, my mind started swirling with ideas to treat one of my favorite women with an afternoon for just the girls. It's not very often we get to do this, and all week Mila kept telling Beau and Cruz we were going to kick them out of the kitchen so we could have a tea party for Grandma. I love that she is getting to the age where she is appreciating these special occasions, too!
On a dreary February Saturday, I transformed my table into a spring retreat. Mason jars were filled with pink tulips and velvety white stock, little succulent pots adorned each place setting, and a homemade lemon blueberry cake became our centerpiece. Mom and I served chicken salad with grapes, celery, and cranberries on croissants, a lemon kale salad with quinoa, shrimp salad, and fresh fruit. And my favorite touch were the tea cups! I've collected quite the mix of new Anthropologie cups mixed with a few vintage sets purchased for Mila's Tea for Two birthday party. They looked so pretty stacked up on a wood tray next to the table. I stopped at one of my favorite most recent additions to Cedar Falls Main Street, The Tea Cellar, and purchased a couple of new spring flavors to add to my current favorites, Winter Berry and Honey Almond. We were set!
We slowly savored our lunch, spoiled Grandma well with pretty packages of perfume, stationary, a photo album of pictures, a new Bible, and a flower pot, and gathered back around the table for tea and cake afterwards. My favorite part of the day was this time - slow, uninterrupted time to sip tea, savor a piece of cake, and listen to Grandma share stories of her family growing up. She was one of the youngest of twelve siblings, and remembered her mom serving tea nearly every single afternoon, a tradition that spanned well into Grandma's years of raising her own kids and welcoming grand-kids. Her parents both passed away far too soon, but I smiled to think we were getting a taste of Great Grandma's legacy that afternoon. A legacy I would love to make more of a staple around here.
It was a beautiful day gathering four generations of women from our family to celebrate a matriarch we love and look up to so very much. Grandma is one of the most special women in my life. I was blessed to have grown up just down the street from both her and Grandpa, and rarely went a day without seeing them. Being the only granddaughter of six grandkids, I was the recipient of frequent special adventures, trips to La Crosse to accompany Grandma on shopping trips while Grandpa attended work events, special afternoons working on craft projects around her kitchen table, and memories sitting side by side with on the piano bench as I mimicked her dominant left hand and followed the same notes with mine. Grandpa took me on my very first driving lesson, let me "borrow" his black oldsmobile as my "first car," and accompanied me, Mom, and Grandma as they watched me try on several prom dresses my senior year, eventually pitching in so I could have the bright pink one that was just a little over budget.
Grandma, I admire so much about you! You are strong and kind, selfless and devoted, and full of grace and a deep deep love for God and His people. I am so thankful to be part of your gene pool and only hope I grow up with the same maturity, grace, and beauty you demonstrate every day. Thank you for being such a constant, present, loving part of our lives. Your kids, grandkids, and five little great-grandkids are blessed beyond measure to have you leading the way.
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