Note - a friend shared her children call Dec
23rd, "Christmas Adam" because it came before "Christmas
Eve." I decided to run that by this family and it seems to be sticking. We love the quirkiness of Christmas Adam, and it gives us one more special day
to celebrate instead of trying to fit everything into Christmas Eve, Christmas
and New Year's Eve.....of course the 12 Days of Christmas accomplishes the
same. Did I mention we love quirky?
My mom collects
tea cups, plates, tea pots, nativities and elephants. There may be a few other
things???? These are the ones that stick out to me. Grams also collected tea
cups.
Mom hosted a
Christmas Adam Tea for all the female relatives who were in town. This would be
me, her daughter; Sherri, her daughter in law; my daughters - Bre, Krista,
Arielle and Stacia; Sherri's grand-daughter
Harmony; and Heather's (daughter in law overseas) daughter Elizabeth.
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| Cousins - yes, these are the girl cousins (minus Amy) |
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| Elizabeth, Bre - the elder, Krista holding Arielle, Stacia and Harmony |
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| De'Etta, Arielle, Krista - Arielle missed her chewing cue! |
Stacia had spent
the night at Will and Sherri's with Harmony. This is a HUGE treat - we don't
typically do sleepovers. This morning
they made cookies and cut out sweet little tea sandwiches for the tea. Harmony
is technically Stacia's 2nd cousin (is that right? She's her cousin Amy's daughter).
I love that there is a "cousin" young enough for Stacia to enjoy. Being
the caboose, most of Stacia's cousins are close to 20 years older than her.
Mom shared the tea was our Christmas present this year. As we got started, we each drew a number, and then chose a tea cup from her collection. I
suggested we allow 3 steals - Mom vetoed.
As we chose a
cup, Mom told us where she'd gotten it and a bit of its story. Many of them
were cups from Grams. Grams and her friends used to host weekly tea parties.
They'd each bring a cup and exchange them so they took a new cup home weekly.
They'd bring demi (demitasse)
cups and their girls would trade them with each other. I believe the only two who chose cups which
were not Gram's were Harmony and Krista.
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| One for Bre, one for Baby Girl - both cups Grams had given Mom |
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| Stacia chose a purple one Grams had given Mom |
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| Love Elizabeth's choice of blue roses |
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| Harmony chose this one Gpa gave Gma |
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| Gma and Arielle |
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| Harmony and Grandma Sherri |
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| Krista chose a unique square one Mom had purchased |
Being together highlighted those who were not with us - Heather is overseas. We're all looking
forward to seeing her and Nate this summer. I was happy Elizabeth was with
us. Amy, Will and Sherri's daughter, is
finishing up her time at Teen Challenge. We will be house-sitting for Will and Sherri as they
travel, with Harmony and Andrew and Matt to visit Amy for a week.
The tea cups will
always be special. The afternoon with
each other and Mom will be a favorite Christmas memory. It was a chance to slow
down and visit in a smaller group....you know... without our rowdy men-folks
around. ::wink:: ::snort:: ::gasp::
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| Mom does love hosting a tea table |
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| Seven of the nine of us |
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| Pure Joy |
I suspect a
Christmas Adam Tea has become a new tradition for this branch of the family -
together if we are near Mom and alone if not. It was a wonderful breather in
the midst of the busy-ness of family and holidays.
Thanks, Mom.
