Afternoon Tea Like Tumnus

Last week, in our daily readings from the The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Lucy entered the magical woods of Narnia.

She met Mr. Tumnus and enjoyed a tea at the faun’s cozy home.

In honor of that special fictional tea, we too celebrated a tea with friends who are also reading their way through the Narnia series this school year.

We served what Tumnus served – sardines on toast, soft boiled eggs, hot tea and sugar dusted tea cake.

Dining under the hemlock tree in the front yard our table was overflowing with old fashioned tea pots and tiny vases filled with wildflowers and eager children lining up and down its sides.

It was really a delightful way to spend an afternoon.

I pulled down my mother’s collection of tea pots from their rather dusty shelves and filled them up.

The kids loved sampling the several varieties and I can honestly say that it was the first time I’ve ever properly used the tea pots myself.

Oh – the kids and I have filled them with lemonade for summer tea parties with dolls and stuffed animals.  Sadly, I don’t think I even knew how a simple tea pot worked.  But now I do.  (And we’ll be using them more – I’m certain.)

Our recipes all came from two Narnia cookbooks – one the real deal and one the real unofficial deal.

I loved the idea of an afternoon break with a spot of tea and I hope to have one at home more regularly.