Tea Party Time

Every year after Christmas we have our girls' Girl Scout troop over. Right now we have 10 tween girls giggling and whispering in our house. It's loud, silly and fun.
Our girls set the table early this morning. They decided which china to use and carefully folded napkins. After lunch they set out cookies like they were creating an artistic masterpiece. By 12:30 p.m.they were pacing, despite the fact that the start time was 1:00 p.m. 
During the years we've been doing this we've gone from highly programmed parties to more relaxed games of telephone and freeze dance. I looked at a photo from the first tea party a few days ago. I was amazed at how young the girls seemed.
It's one of the joys of having the same group of girls around. We can look at the photos and see how much they have changed throughout the years. Some things stay the same. Our girls like to wear their Christmas dresses to every tea party. One friend always wears a dress with leggings underneath. She has worn something like that every year.
This year we have four kinds of cookies, two kinds of M&Ms, grapes and colby jack cheese sticks on the menu. We have chocolate milk, egg nog, white milk and water for our beverage selection. The games include telephone, freeze dance, hot potato played with a Rudolph stuffed animal and watching a One Direction concert.
The girls are just having so much fun. Right now they are laughing hysterically in the family room because they cannot get through one round of telephone without completely breaking down. They just decided to play Simon Says. I used to decide the schedule, but now I just provide supervision. Once I get them started they keep themselves busy.
The annual tea party is is one of my favorite holiday gatherings. It's fun, relaxed and festive. I can't wait until we do it again next year.