My gift horse

Today we had Junie’s new kindergarten teacher over for “tea.”

The kindergarten teachers and aides from the American DOD elementary on base take the first week of school and go house to house meeting their new students. It’s not really about the parents or seeing the home, it’s giving the children a chance to bond and have some one on one with their new teacher and classroom aide.

We decided to have a tea party.

I will admit part of this decision stemmed from my aching desire to break out the china. My man surprised me a few weeks ago with a hutch. I surprised him by finding something to fill it. I never, ever get to complain that he’s a money miser again; I have also forfeited the right to seven years worth of birthday and Christmas gifts. We got a disgustingly awesome deal on the hutch and an even better deal on the china set (Villeroy and Boch, German made, the “Rusticana Red” pattern printed in 1950 KILL ME NOW).

When I unpacked my new old china into the hutch last week June couldn’t keep her hands off the stuff. She wanted to manhandle every single piece, it about gave me a heart attack.

So, with her teacher coming we decided to shake things up a bit and go formal.

With a little help from my girl Christy and her twin daughters we managed to get refreshments made the day before. Unfortunately the dog ate them so this morning we got up and made them again. June helped mix up some yellow cake mix and we baked it in our mini gingerbread mold pan. They were little golden darlings, so perfect and she scooped them in herself.

My moment of awesomeness? The car battery died and I didn’t have time to run down to the store and back for juice (which I procrastinated doing yesterday). We had nothing but water in the house…wait for it…water and a lonely lime hiding in the back of my fridge. That’s right, we made one little tea pot’s worth of limeade to serve.

June and Georgia wanted to practice drinking and pouring “tea” all morning. Like any good lion tamer June and I talked about answering the door and how to serve the “tea” and who to offer treats to first.

I forgot to talk about not talking with your mouth full, oops.

She was adorable and timid when her teacher and the kindergarten aide came to the door. She smiled and hid behind my legs a little, then tentatively stepped over and gave her teacher a shy hug. She was so quiet and so cute, we totally fooled them.

As soon as June escorted them to the table she served everyone tea, then went and got the treats. Her little piggy sister was guzzling tea and shoving down cakes like a starving Brit. I was a little surprised when Junie told her teacher she wanted to be called June at school, not Junie.

That girl poured out tea and charm like she was born to lunch with the queen. I know she does well with teachers in general, they usually adore her. But today? She was polite, she was thoughtful…it was like I rented a kid.

“I used to go to the kindergarten in the village with Miss Ava,” she told her teacher at one point. “She was the bestest teacher in the whole world…I mean…except for you. You’re the bestest teacher, too.” Big smile.

“Oh,” her teacher looked over at me in awe and delight and said, “She is just the sweetest girl I’ve ever met, what a darling!”

Hook, line, sinker. I smiled and managed to swallow my cackle. “And she’s all yours!”

Bwahahahhahaha!