Christmas Time and Table Conversation

The girls really took last month's lesson on centerpieces to heart. For this Christmas party, each girl made a part of the nativity. They brought it to the meeting and assembled it. Pretty cool, I thought.

This month's meeting was an extension of last month. Now that the girls had learned how to set a table based on a menu and be discreet while attending to the needs of others, it was time for them to learn how to have a conversation at the table, while trying to eat etc. I think this is a great skill for so many of us have found ourselves in a situation where the silence was awkward.

I didn't remember to get any pictures of the lesson or the role playing games that were side splitting, but below are pictures of the afternoon when our guests arrived. (We invited four guests: one recently widowed parishioner, one amazing woman who just lost her father a few months before, the most kind hearted lady ever, and our priest. Only Father Ron couldn't make it due to his holiday schedule.)

Here they are doing a great job of making conversation. You can see that one of our little women is attempting to bring her spoon to her mouth and also take small enough bites that if she needed to, she could still answer someone's question.
We drew names to see who would sit with whom and it just so happens that the older girls got placed at the same table.
Enjoying the first course of homemade broccoli potato soup with homemade rosemary bread. It's a good thing that the cooking was the first lesson of the year.
The girls did ALL the place settings, right down to the name plates, candy canes and and folded napkins.
A beautiful, store bought, cake with some extra "copper coin carrots" in the background.
This is a peek at the truly addicting ribbon dessert brought by my friend who once moonlighted as a caterer. Imagine pecan shortbread on the bottom, fluffy white sugary middle, and pistachio green pudding all topped off with whipped cream and pecans! Heavenly.

We gifted each of the guests with a homemade ornament and the girls had the pleasure of being served by their mothers. It was a blessed meeting with lots of good things learned. Perhaps the best were the thank you notes which expressed the immense gratitude of having had the loveliest of all afternoons. The saying is true: to give is better than to receive.