A Tea Calendar For Nana From Noodles

My grandson surprised me this Christmas with the most wonderful and sentimental present in the world. It was "The Collectible Teapot & Tea Calendar for 2010" shown in the picture to the left and I love it not just because it's a wonderful calendar, but because of the meaning and thought behind the gift.

You see, I love tea and my grandson knows this. For awhile when he was a toddler and a small boy his grandfather and I used to go over during the day to take care of him. And, when we got there I, inevitably, had a cup of tea. So, it became a tradition that he and I and his grandfather and sometimes a dear friend would sit at the dining room table or in the front porch and have tea in the morning.

My grandson, Noodles, always wanted to have tea too, so he would have a little tea with his glass of milk. First, we would just sit there and have the tea. I would be looking at him with his beautiful face and incredible head of curly brown hair. How I would love to have his beautiful head of hair.  He would just be sitting there content as could be with his "cup of tea' and his little legs dangling from the chair.

As he got older he wanted to participate in making the tea so first he helped open the teabag. Then he helped pour the sugar and if you've ever had a toddler help you with pouring sugar you know that sometimes we ended up with a little tea with our glass of sugar. He always had a wonderful smile of accomplishment on his face when he was able to help.

Then, of course, he wanted to carry the Styrofoam coffee cups filled with tea to the table. We let him try and, yes, the tea would spill on the floor, but this could easily be cleaned. When he finally made it to the table he always had that huge and wonderful smile of accomplishment on his face.

So, it became a tradition every time we would visit. He would run to the kitchen to get the container of tea bags and then to the cupboard for the Styrofoam cups, then the sugar. We'd wait for the water to boil and then prepare our cups of tea together.

Another reason that I just love the calendar is that not only does it brings sweet and beautiful memories back to me, but it's filled with something else I love - history and tradition. Each page has a lovely picture of a tea set and is filled with little stories and facts all surrounding tea and the tradition of teas. Or, you might find a quote or an explanation for certain kinds of teas. Maybe a recipe or two. Even twelve tea set pictured postcards.

It's a delightful calendar for any history buff and tea enthusiast. But, for me, it's a gift of love that brought sweet memories back to me of a beautiful time between a Nana and her Grandson, and, well, gifts just don't get any better than that.