Back to School Tea

Our family loves to get together and we LOVE traditions! When our kids were growing up if we happened to do something twice they would say we "always" did this or that and then they wanted to do it every time. We had lots of traditions. For example, we had to eat onion dip and chips when we decorated our Christmas tree-I don't know why I ever even served it once, but they loved it and a tradition was started. Our son, Matthew, informed his fiancee last Christmas that they had to have onion dip while they decorated their tree. She was totally baffled about the reason behind this and I told her it was "just tradition". I'm sure other families have lots of traditions too, but ours just seemed to be a little quirkier than most. The fact that as adults our kids have continued some of those traditions and are passing them on to their families is reassuring to me as a parent that maybe I did a pretty good job with them. And that warms my heart. 

Three years ago Melissa decided to hold a back to school tea at her house. And thus began a new family tradition. The next year Meredith held it at her home and for the last two years I have hosted it. Our family has really grown in the last three years too. This year there were 14 of us present. It's always a fun afternoon. We have different kinds of finger sandwiches (including peanut butter and jelly), brownies, cupcakes, teas, etc. The little girls enjoy putting on a dress and having a party and we "big girls" love a chance to chat. This year was our first year to have a "man" at our party. Ollie is now 6 months old and he had a grand time being passed around and loved on by all.

I love family traditions and this is now one of my favorites!