Tea Time

Most every day, after putting the Little Force of Destruction down for his afternoon nap, the remaining kids and I gather from the far corners of the house and yard and assemble for tea. This has become one of our favorite routines, taking a drift-aimlessly-around-the-house time of day and making it instead a time of savoring.


We savor our hot tea--gingerbread spice is the kids' favorite, while I cozy up to Earl Grey--and modest snack.


We savor poetry. The kids adore the lyrical language, and our only rule is that no one interrupts during the reading of a poem. Every week or so they will clamor for me to help them memorize a poem that has struck their fancy, so that they have a growing log of beautiful words and rhythmic thought filling their little minds. You should see the grin spread across Nathan's face as he recites

"There was a young lady from Niger
Who smiled as she rode on a tiger.
They returned from the ride
With the lady inside
And the smile on the face of the tiger."


And it is a time of savoring one another. When we are through, the kids often dismiss to a "moops," which, if you have never read The Penderwicks, means nothing to you, but to them it is an all-important kids only meeting, usually conducted in our stall shower.

We have done this in a hit-and-miss sort of way since Julia was 3, but this year it has become an indispensable element of our joy-filled days.