Why we enjoy the High Tea...

Here is our third in our series of stories from our 3rd annual High Tea. The two posts prior to this are also about the high tea. Stay tuned for more in the September tidings.

Today are two stories from Penny Powell and Barbara Theiss who hosted a table together.

Penny Powell writes:

I look forward to our High Tea every year and hope it stays a Good Sam tradition for many years to come so I can one day share it with my granddaughter, Alex.    

What I love about the event is that it makes us feel pampered for a few hours, it's an occasion to dress-up, our selves and our tables, relax and catch-up with old friends as well as make new friends.  

It also gives me an opportunity to use and share with others the beautiful bone china tea cups I display in my china cabinet but never use.  My adoptive mother collected English bone china cups & saucers, sugar and cream sets.  When she died in 1978, she left several dozen collectable pieces that I never, ever thought I'd use. Growing up I was very disinterested in her collection and thought it as an odd hobby; not "my cup of tea." Since her death, however, I have come to see the beauty in each piece and  love the memories some of the pieces have for me.

(c) Savoring the Sweet Life

Barbara Theiss writes:

I love participating in our beautiful Women's Tea!  I am always struck by the number of generations enjoying themselves together!  This year there was even a table of little girls; our 6 year old Sophia was one of them. She had a ball!  Our good hearted men serving the delicious food was like icing on the cake. 

Penny and I enjoyed combining our family heirlooms at our table. My contributions included my Grandmother' s Rosenthal china, some crystal bowls from my husband' s mother and some from my mother, and the napkin rings. They came from my collection that I have acquired from antique stores in my travels.  They are all at least 80 years old, some over 120 years old, and I love to imagine who used them and in what type of a setting.

These photos are all used with permission from the photographers from Savoring the Sweet Life who attended the feast. The photo of Penny and Barb was taken by Ruth Lim, our roving reporter.

Our High Tea in May...

(c) Savoring the Sweet Life

At the High Tea, women invite their friends and relations to enjoy this special event. The Tea always sells out the first day tickets go on sale and there’s a waiting list. As in past years, the men were generous enough to serve as waiters and food organizers, including our rector, Chris Chase (pictured right)!

These photos are all used with permission from the photographers from Savoring the Sweet Life who attended the feast. 


Last week we shared a story from Jennifer Burgess about the china used at her table. Today, we share another story. Stay tuned for more in the September tidings.

(c) Savoring the Sweet Life

From Michelle Dicks: 

My maternal grandparents, Theresa and Marshall, were married for fifty years.  They loved to entertain and cook.  Grandma was born and raised in New Orleans, and would cook all of the Creole specialties in abundance; nothing was better than going to grandma’s house to eat!  

For some gatherings, they used their china, which grandpa carefully maintained. After grandpa died in 1991, grandma moved into a condo.  I was away at college for the move, but grandma had “Auntie” Nani pack all of the china into sturdy boxes and put my name on them.  Grandma told Nani that one day I would have my own house and would enjoy it.  The boxes took up half of a closet in grandma’s condo, and in all the years she lived there, she never opened them. Grandma died in the fall of 2006. A month after I purchased my townhouse in 2007, Nani’s husband made a special trip from LA to deliver the china. 

Michelle's table
(c) Savoring the Sweet Life

Last year, when I heard Good Sam needed table hostesses for the annual Women’s High Tea, I decided to host a table and use grandma’s china.  Before I started, I said a lot of prayers, asking God to draw my grandparents close to me, and to help me avoid dropping anything because I had to traverse stairs and travertine to get to the dishwasher, which thankfully has a special china setting.  

The experience was unforgettable; I laughed and cried and felt an enormous sense of connection to them.  This year I had a similar experience preparing for the tea.  I am so thankful to my grandparents – my gutsy, gumption-filled Southern grandma and my kindhearted, calm and resilient grandpa – for leaving such a legacy for me for enjoy, and to share with others. 

Stories from the High Tea

Betsy at her table
(c) Savoring the Sweet Life

 The women go all out in decorating their tables for the Annual High Tea. Betsy Veneziano was the chair and her table design was really cool. All the gals at her table also wore fascinators.

If you want to see all the tables you can go to Facebook to see Jacqui Todd’s photos of all the tables. Professional photographers also took photos, which she has generously given us permission to use here. You can see all the photos at Savoring the Sweet Life.

So many of the hostesses used china that either had special meaning to them or that they’d inherited. Today and next week, we’ll share two of those stories. Stay tuned for more in the September tidings.

(c) Savoring the Sweet Life

From Jennifer Burgess: 

I inherited this dinner set from my mother-in-law. She had this from her gift shop way back when In Long Island, New York.  From what I remember she said that it is one of the dinner sets her parents had brought over from Germany. 

I would say that it is at least 60 years old or more. I did some research and found out that is from Denmark. The artist is Fanny Garde. The  company is Bing and Grondahl. This design first came about in 1895 and is very popular with the Danish families and the seagull collection was discontinued in 1997. Now it is a collectors item so if you break it it is hard to find a replacement. The more common one is without the gold rim. The gold rim ones are very limited and has a number on it. This helps to identify the year  it is made.

Jennifer's and Ruth Lim's table setting
(c) Savoring the Sweet Life

My mother in law had always told me that what ever happens to keep this set as it holds a lot of memories as she used it a lot when the family got together. My husband David said he remembered that his mom only used this set on very special occasions, especially with her family, and she is very careful to make sure that her kids do not break any of them. So I'm glad I inherited this.