One of my most cherished toys as a child was a miniature tea set in a wicker carrying case with a gold clasp. My grandma gave it to me when I was 5 years old. Every time I was at her house we would play afternoon tea, filling the pot and cups with water so we actually had something to sip. This tea set was the beginning of my life-long love of the “art” of tea.
Josie Oorbeek and her best friend Grace Costanzo, both 4, bake in Josie’s mom’s kitchen. The girls are now 12.
Around the same age, I started “helping” my grandma and mom bake. Both of them baked throughout the year, but Christmas was an all-out extravaganza.
I would venture to guess that between the two of them they churned out a couple thousand Christmas cookies each holiday season. Sparkly sugar cut-outs, powdered sugar-covered chocolate crinkles, nutty Mexican wedding cakes, gingerbread and so many more. These cookies would be shared with dozens of families and friends, carefully laid out on plastic dime-store trays for parties and packed in beautiful tins as gifts.
Of course, we saved some for Santa, too.
As an adult, I cultivated my passion for afternoon-tea and baking. Even as a single woman both were a big part of my holiday celebrations with friends. When I became a wife and mother, afternoon teas and baking were instant family Christmas traditions.
My first daughter, Josie, was 3 when I started including her in my Christmas baking. When she was 6, I hosted my first Christmas Tea for her and about 15 of her friends and classmates.
Despite their young age, I put out my best china and silver—a treasured mix of my mother’s and grandma’s china and silver and my own wedding pattern. I served the girls tiered platters of the cookies I had learned to bake as a girl as well as ones that I have baked as an adult. I poured them fruity herbal teas so they could have the same thrill I had while sipping with my grandma decades before. Josie and her friends loved what would become our annual Christmas tea. Even my husband was a part of it. He would put on a tuxedo and serve our precious guests.
We hosted five Christmas teas in a row. Some years we assigned a theme to our tea. Christmas in France, Nutcracker and American Girl Doll were some of them.
Unfortunately, COVID halted our tradition for 2020, but this year we reinstate our tradition! My older daughter and I decided that this year we would “pass the torch” to my younger daughter, Addie, who is 6. This year, her friends will be invited over. I will bring out the same china, serve our home-baked cookies and scones and Daddy will chivalrously serve the girls.
I hope she and her friends will enjoy our Christmas tradition. We sure do.
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November 27, 2021 at 01:00AM
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A personal story: Childhood memories become sweet Christmas traditions - Fauquier Times
"sweet" - Google News
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