There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour
dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.
-Henry James
Portrait of a Lady
{a “new” to us teapot, my sweet husband brought home last night}
Sitting together in the evening, after the busy-ness of dinner time, cleanup, bed time baths and barn chores and family devotions, I confessed to my husband …
“I do wish I could freeze time right now …” I said, sipping my chamomile tea before bed.
My husband nodded and we both sat, quietly, watching the flickering fire in the woodstove. With our eldest now 14 years old and still a baby in the house, our family’s ages extend a wide range now. There are needs at every level.
Yet, the girls are at such great ages – some independant and some still needing mommy & daddy … the boys are still the babies and we have yet to experience having an older boy around the house. With eight children, we have older and younger ones all mixed together … yes, certainly we make up one big, messy, noisy happy family … but it’s SUCH a blessing!
I truly feel as if all my energy is devoted in this family of mine – I do not have much left to give to other events or outings or gatherings. Everything is carefully selected in regards to how much time and energy I can spend outside the home. Although I’m finding it very busy and very full, the days are sweet and filled with memories in the making.
Sometimes I wish I could pour this feeling of motherhood into another mother’s heart … to encourage her and help her see how the days are not just do-overs, not just repeated loads of laundry (because we all have laundry to do – big or small families alike) or endless meals that need preparing … there’s SO much more .. the shaping of characters … the watering of seeds planted deep in your child’s heart … the telling of stories of Jesus and the Bible … teaching manners … reading together … baking together … making music together … gardening together … cleaning together … being silly and being serious together …
… learning together as a family … making mistakes and apologizing to each other … helping little ones with muddy boots and wet spring coats or standing on a stool beside mommy in the kitchen, helping prepare a tray of homemade cinnamon buns … and if I am not careful, I feel like I could miss it all in a blink of an eye …
It was with this thought in mind – freezing time and wishing I could slow down the clock – I realized we needed to have our little family afternoon tea parties again. It had been awhile since we had gathered for Tea at Two on Tuesdays … this week it was time to pull up the pink velvet chairs and pour some peppermint tea and sit and be still together. To freeze time … even if just for half of an hour …
It was simple and lovely. We all read some poetry, drank our piping hot tea from chipped tea cups and passed around the teddy bear cookies. No one minded when the two year old tipped his tea cup over and ate too many of the cookies.
And then it was not long before it was nap time and all the tea cups were washed and dried and put away … the cookies were all eaten and the little ones were tucked into bed with their blankies … and there it was …
… a moment in time, frozen for this momma’s heart.
by Gigi
10 comments