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The highlight of my Christmas was being asked to my first tea party on Christmas Eve. I arrived at our friends house to eat dinner and I wasn’t there five minutes when little Eden dressed in her pajamas, a few months shy of her third birthday (with horses we call that a two-year-old coming three), took my hand and ask me to come with her. She started up the stairs and I asked, “Where are we going?”

“We’re going to a tea party,” she said quietly.

We’ll I’ve never been invited to a tea party before and wasn’t about to miss this one with a little blue-eyed, blonde-haired host. We went into the guest bedroom and I sat on the bed while she opened the closet doors. Inside was a whole little girl kitchen set-up (all made of wood). There was a refrigerator, sink, oven, microwave and pantry.

She pulled out a little ceramic teapot and two little ceramic tea cups.

“Be very careful,” she warned. “These are glass!”

I promised and she tried to pour me some imaginary tea while keeping the lid from falling off. It looked like it was chore to pour it just right, but this being my first tea party i wasn’t entirely sure.

After she filled my cup (I assume it was full). I started to take a sip.

“Wait!’ she yelled. “We have to warm it up!”

She then put my cup of tea in the wooden microwave oven and pressed a bunch of numbers on the panel. I’m not sure what numbers she punched, but the tea was ready in about thirty seconds. She handed it to me and I said, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Eden said.

I began to take a sip and she yelled out. “No!”

“You need to blow on it first. It’s too hot!”

So I blew on the hot tea for about thirty seconds before I got the go ahead from this tiny hostess.

I was about to take my first sip when she made me wait again.

“We have to put sugar in it,” she said.

So she put quite a bit of imaginary sugar in the cup (I guess that’s why tea parties are so popular) and she then offered me syrup. Well, with this being my first tea party I wasn’t quite sure how to answer. I figured it must be the proper protocol, so I said, “Please.”

This time I waited for her to drink from her cup first.

“This is very good tea Eden.”

“Thank you,” she said in a pleased tone. “Would you like a cookie?”

“Yes please,” I said.

She opened the wooden oven and I was hoping she had a real box of cookies in there. But, alas it was a round wooden cookie with little brown spots that represented the chocolate chips. I was about to take a bite when she said, “Wait!” As she proceeded to add sugar and syrup to the cookie. Let me tell you, that was one sweet wooden cookie!

“Thank you, this is good,” I said.

“You are so welcome,” little Miss Manners said.

After my cookie, she opened the top of the freezer and I saw a lot of ice cream cones and ice cream bars.

“Could I have some ice cream,” I asked.

She looked and said, “We’re out of ice cream.”

We’ll I know that was a bald-faced lie, because I could see it there, but I’m not about to start anything with my young hostess.

“That’s ice cream right there,” I said. “That’s an Eskimo pie or ice cream sandwich!”

She pulled the ice cream sandwich out and turned it from side to side looking at it carefully and put it back into the freezer and shut the door. “We don’t have enough,” she announced.

I was a little embarrassed, I was afraid I broke tea party protocol by asking for ice cream. She didn’t invite me to an ice cream party, she invited me to a tea party. I figured the party was just about over when she asked, “Would you please take that box down for me please?”

There were about seven green boxes that all looked alike with various toys sticking out of them. I mean, how could I turn my host down? She invited me to my first tea party and asked politely twice.

I took the box down and she emptied it on the floor. “Could you get that one down please?”

Sure, why not. She promptly dumped that one down and then announced we were looking for the doll that sits on the flushing potty. Oh! well by all means that requires us to keep looking and taking down boxes until we find such a doll. Six boxes later we didn’t find the doll. All of the previous boxes contents now covered half the room with no potty doll in site. But as luck would have it, we did find her little plastic “princess shoes” with a little princess or Barbie Doll picture on them.

“Those are so pretty Eden,” I said.

“Yes, they are!” she answered, and proceeded to put them on her tiny feet. “I think I will wear my princess dress!” she said as she started to unbutton her pajama top.

“No!!!” I yelled. That’s all I need is for someone to come up and ask why Eden is taking off her clothes at the tea party!

“Let’s go show PJ and Mimi these shoes! They want to see them right now!”

“Okay, but first let me put on my bracelets,” she informed me. We started down the stairs when she then informed me I need to take her hand walking down the stairs because of the little inch and a half heals on the plastic shoes.

I took her hand and we were just in time for dinner. I never knew what I was missing out on at these tea parties! Eden has a little sister named Layla about eight months old (she’d be a weanling in horse jargon), so I hope I have many tea parties to come.

I’m pretty sure Eden didn’t get in trouble for the mess of toys upstairs, since she won’t be tall enough to get the boxes down for about fifteen years. I was happy to leave the mess until next time (that’s called a parlay at the racetrack), that is if I get invited back by the housekeeper. Thank goodess I’m good friends with the man of the house! 🙂

Peace out!

Steve “Keepin’ It Real” Spur