Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree.
-Emily Bronte-
Teatimes have become beloved favorites in our home and putting together special tea parties brings us a special delight. We love choosing the perfect menu and picking out just the right foods to mark the occasion, usually a season or holiday to be celebrated. And over the weekend, my mom, sister and I were so excited to get to enjoy an autumn tea party together.
It was Sunday evening, the air was chilly and crisp and the sky was dark with night. We spent the night before preparing our desserts and making small preparations for our savouries, though we would bake them the next afternoon. On Sunday afternoon, we gathered in the kitchen to finish our meal, adding the final touches and making sure everything was just how we wanted. As evening approached and nighttime filled the sky, we lit our candles and added a few fresh pumpkins to the table for that autumnal beauty. With dimmed lights and the soft glow and gentle flicker of candlelight, we feasted and savoured the wonder of the season, the goodness of beloved company of dear ones and the scrumptious taste of the foods we had prepared.
{a glimpse at our tea party...}
Our menu included...
Sausage Bread (recipe coming soon!)
Turkey Bacon Cheddar Cups
Chicken Ranch Pinwheels
Mini Cream Cheesecakes with Toppings
Pumpkin Streusel Muffins (recipe coming soon!)
Molasses Spice Cookies (recipe coming soon!)
Toffee Caramel Pecan Scones (recipe HERE)
{pumpkins are a must at an autumn tea party...}
As autumn rolls on and as we prepare to welcome winter once again, I have been pondering the goodness of feasting and celebrating and of home. I believe there is much to be found in those things. Feasting is not only about filling our bellies but also about gathering together with those we love nad hold dear. And of celebrating...every single day is worth a celebration, even if it is a small one. Lighting a candle at dinner is enough to mark each day as unique and a gift. And then home...how blessed we are to know that the world of home is a wonderful world, full of creativity, imagination, love, laughter, belonging, fulfillment, happiness, magic and wonder.
My mind has been filled with thoughts of how we oftentimes look beyond our own four walls and close circle of family and loved ones for our happiness to be fulfilled and our purposes to be found. Back in the old days, most folks centered their lives around the home and their families were their world. While they may have known people outside their own relations, their closest friends and dearest companions were, indeed, the ones with whom they shared a home and life with. How far we have gone from those days! And it isn't all progress, my friends. How much more of a peaceful, moral-centered world we would have if people returned to the world of home and invested in the relationships with their family circle instead of always looking elsewhere for companionship, purpose, and happiness?!?!
Sometimes I find myself wishing for days gone by...days I've never known because they were long before my time. Days when families were people's highest priorities. Days when the home was seen as sacred ground and a place of value worth protecting and cherishing. Days when people looked within their four walls for companionship and invested deeply into those relationships. Days when families looked into each others' eyes when talking and sat together at the dinner table for a meal and actually loved being together. Days when morals and family values and simple manners weren't a foreign concept. Days when families actually did things together instead of just co-existing in the same house. Days when you would see familiar faces when you went to the shops and when people had a gentle, kind countenance. Days when the majority of people had the same ideals and goals and values and you didn't feel like the black sheep walking in a field surrounded by white ones.
I long for days like those.
But I have come to realize that those days are totally, completely possible with the choices I make. Just because it seems like everyone is going one way doesn't mean that I have to tread that same path. Just because it seems like "everyone is doing it" doesn't mean that I have to do "it", whatever "it" is. Just because people are abandoning morals and family values, doesn't mean that I need to follow suit. And it also doesn't mean that I have to surround myself with those who are choosing that path that I know to be foolish and wrong. I can stand firm in what I believe to be good and true and beautiful and surround myself with those walking the same path and make room for more along the way.
The same is true for you, dear one.
May we be people of virtue and morals and values.
May we not give way to the culture,
but stand firm in the pursuit of that which is good, true and beautiful.
Be blessed, dear ones!
♥