Saturday, April 30, 2011

A Royal Tea Party




Our hometown might be thousands of miles from Westminster Abbey, but that didn't mean we were going to miss out on the Royal Wedding Festivities. My family is English after all and my mother is always willing to host a traditional English Tea Party.


An invitation arrived in mail for Miss A and Miss M to come for a Royal Slumber Party followed by an early morning tea party to watch the wedding. Miss A had a day off of school for a teacher work day and, for the first time ever, I let Miss M skip school. I felt better when I heard that Barbara Walters told people to let their children stay home and not miss out on this historical event.


I remember vividly watching the Wedding of Charles and Diana. My family got up early for tea and crumpets and watched the fairy tale and pageantry. A neighborhood friend spent the night to watch the event with me and then our family took off for a vacation to Colorado after "the kiss."


Ten years later, I was in England with my grandmother when Charles and Diana were off on their 10th Anniversary trip. I fell in love with London and walked around Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, and Victoria Station feeling very much at home. On the train ride to Oxford, I dreamed what it would be like to be a student at Oxford University. I was sure somewhere in my mind I was dreaming of marrying a Prince someday too.


When I was a small child, both my great grandmother and great great grandmother were alive. They were both very English and very proper. In fact, I believed my GG Grandmother was the Queen of England. Every time I saw her, she was sitting in a high backed chair in her home. She was tiny and royal looking and I was all of five or six so it made perfect sense.


Guess you could say I have English blood running through my veins. Thus, when the Royal Wedding of William and Catherine came about, I knew that this would be a memory that M and A would never forget. They loved every moment of the Wedding Tea Party. My mom went all out with scones, hats, gloves, and tiaras. It was every little girls dream.


Westminster Abbey seemed very close on Friday morning.

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