Tea for Two

Last evening, as I was beginning to cook dinner, the kids began their ritual of camping in front of the pantry to nosh on everything within reach. They grabbed a box of water crackers and asked for some cheese. Then, instead of heading for the television, they went into the formal dining room to have a tea party.

They used Ainsley's china tea set, beautifully decorated with butterflies, dragonflies, and ladybugs. For the first round, I filled the teapot with water and carefully poured the cups at the table and served them. The kids clanked their cups together and said, "Cheers!"

Before long, they were both speaking in British accents and behaving quite proper. We practiced our good tea party manners as they made sandwiches with their cheese and crackers. This can be a challenge when cracker crumbs fly across the table after one bites into a "sandwich". They took it all very seriously and were extremely polite.

Next, Ainsley decided that in order for her to be a proper lady, she must be dressed appropriately. She went purposefully upstairs and returned a few minutes later. She glided gracefully down the winding staircase wearing her glittery pink dress-up skirt, crystalline (plastic and rubber) princess slippers, jeweled rings on four fingers, green Mardi-gras beads around her neck, and the aqua and orange Hawaiian tank top she had been wearing before she blossomed into Lady Tasha.

Ian, being such a gentleman, pulled her chair out from the table for her, and I scooted her back in. (The chairs weigh more than the kids do!) The tea party resumed and they began telling a story of some sort while I began making tortillas to go with dinner. Then Ian took off for the play room and returned with an armful of their largest stuffed animals. Each was seated in a chair around the table and given a napkin. So they, too, could have some tea, Ian retrieved an assortment of plastic cups we have managed to collect from restaurants in the area.

This was getting to be quite a production. We were all speaking proper English and being so polite to one another. I wasn't sure I was in the right house. The kids proved to me that they really DO know how to behave in a civilized manner. I'm not sure who impressed me more - Ian, with his charm and eloquence, serving all of his friends and making sure everyone was taken care of; or Ainsley, who brought forth her soft, delicate side - the side that sips gingerly instead of gulping and dribbling, takes tiny demure bites instead of shoving a fistful into her mouth. They DO have good manners. They just choose not to use them at the family dinner table. Grrrrrrr.

We are going to have to work on this. Maybe it was the genteel accent that brought it out. If so, we may have to adopt a new way of speaking in this house.