It is sometimes difficult when spring comes unexpectedly in February. How can you get those young ones to finish their math when the birds are singing and the snow is melting into rivulets in the driveway?
We took a spontaneous stroll by the water a few days ago, one of a number of unexpected nature walks during a season usually spent reading by the fire.
I love this time of year, when the children are just shedding their winter clothes and head out in an odd mix of corduroys and tights and boots.
So much warmth and beauty all around. It seems that spring is truly here, whether we are ready for it or not.
With that, I leave you with one last memory of Winter 2017:
This photo was taken on my cell phone just before last night's Mass for the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter. Seeing my son participate on the altar never gets old.
Here is something else that never gets old--holding a friend's darling two-week old baby for the first time. I was so grateful to my husband for capturing the moment. There is something to be said for living in an era when everyone has a camera at the ready.
For our Saturday Valentine's Tea, we put up our Last Supper painting, but today it occurred to me that the Sacred Heart picture from our kitchen ought to be featured on Valentine's day.
The image was too small for the space, so I added pillar candles to frame it.
Left vase.
Right vase. (Roses and lilies from my Valentine.)
The photo above is the second picture I took of Danielle by the mantel.
Here is the first. I took a second shot, because I realized the Last Supper painting was on the floor in the background of this one. Still, nothing beats the smile of a child in a first photo.
The candles looked so lovely lit by the Sacred Heart, and we used the pink flowers from Candlemas again.
This is really a blend of Candlemas and Christmas decorations, bringing us straight into Valentine's Day. The Liturgical Year flows so perfectly.
These photos will help if I want to duplicate this next year.
I was beginning to wonder if the garland of dolls was too whimsical to go beneath the Sacred Heart image. Then I remembered that my daughter put them there with her own hand. "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."
At the beginning of 2017, I was blogging every day, sometimes writing more than one post. During those first few weeks of the year, I wondered to myself, "Why have I not been doing this? This isn't so hard--in fact, it's fun. I'm going to blog every day for the rest of my life."
Then we started back to school, and I remembered why I have so much trouble blogging consistently. Too many brains to fill and my own far too empty!
That said, there is always time for tea in this house. Back in August, we began a tradition of preparing a First Saturday Tea in honor of the Blessed Mother. I wanted the children to look forward to first Saturdays as memorable, happy and holy. (This is the latest edition of something we began doing over a decade ago.) This month, I was in Virginia for first Saturday, so we decided to have the tea on February 11th, the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, with a Valentine's theme to match the season.
Here are some photos of a lovely afternoon:
We had a dear friend visiting who is gluten and dairy free, so the triple-tier server featured all gluten and dairy free items--meringues, fruit, shrimp, tea sandwiches, chocolate, and even some sushi.
The Last Supper painting was back on the mantel for the first time since before Advent. Some beautiful friends of my daughter gave her the sweet garland of dolls for Christmas, and she added it to the decor herself. It made me so happy to see it there.
Another view.
The red table cloth and Irish lace cover reminded me of paper Valentines.
Red was the color of the day.
I did not get many close up photos of the table, but here are some of the sweets--all from the bakery. It was a busy weekend.
Naturally, there were conversation hearts. This one proved accurate.
Here is a small detail for you--a heart-shaped hairdo! There was a red ribbon involved, but it must have slipped out.
At some point during the tea, we dimmed the electric lights in favor of candlelight. The room looked so pretty as the sun went down.
Our oldest daughter was home and the last to stay behind talking to me--this is one of the things I love most about teatime. Talking and lingering.
Meanwhile, in the next room, games were being played.
A good time was had by all!
Last but not least, here is the video tour of the table. As always, I ask that you disregard the primal screams in the background and put my New York accent through an imaginary voice changer so that it is more King Arthur's Court and less Arthur Fonzarelli.
[One last thing--the biggest hit of this tea may well have been the pretty glasses of foamy, pink lemonade. My husband had gone out for a few last minute purchases, and one of the items on my list was "pink lemonade." The store only had regular lemonade, so he brought it home. I didn't want yellow drinks spoiling my pink and red Valentine's table, so I put a bag of frozen strawberries in the Vitamix and whirled them up with the half gallon of lemonade. The result was delicious, pink and foamy. The sweetness of the strawberries improved the flavor of the lemonade, and everyone had at least two or three glasses. Definitely something to be repeated.]
It is hard to believe it has been ten years since we celebrated Candlemas for the first time. I look back upon these posts with astonishment to see how much has changed in those years: Tea, Turtledoves and Treading Water and Scenes from the Feast of Candlemas. The three older girls--so young and involved in every aspect of that first Candlemas Tea--are all away at college (actually, one just graduated). The funny baby getting in the way and making us all laugh is now taller than I am. Two new little ones have been born, and my mother has passed away.
Yet, comparing Candlemas 2007 and Candlemas 2017, so much looks the same--the table, the flowers, the candles, the smiles, the evening Mass. This is what I love about our Catholic Faith and all the beautiful traditions that spring from it. It is the constant amidst the change. It roots us in the past, and it points us toward the future.
The tea table on Candlemas 2017:
Pure tea, milk, sugar cubes:
A bouquet of lilies for St. Joseph and Our Lady:
Doves on the votive holder:
Pretty in pink:
The table with the gold Nativity in the background. We kept up two Nativity scenes until Candlemas:
Two little gifts we did not have yet in 2007:
Irish lace:
Three floating candles to represent the Trinity:
The altar about an hour before Mass, with two baskets of beeswax candles ready to be blessed: