how did it all begin?

About this time last week, Lynne asked how the knitting parties got started. I have been delving into the depths of memory since these soirees have been happening on the second Saturday of the month for a long, long time. Twenty years or so. Diane suggested that we get together once a month to knit. We had so much fun that we began inviting friends. For a while, we would all take turns hosting the party. But, as always happens, things came up. People couldn't manage to host it in their turn because the plumbing broke or the in-laws dropped in for the week or the four-year-old got pinkeye, or whatever. So I would pick up the slack. Pretty sonn, it was just easier to schedule it at my place. For the last fifteen years, I have had the space, the equipment, the leisure, a big enough table and a sufficiently indulgent husband. And I love doing it. From the very first plans to the very last of the putting away, I have a ball. If there are 25 ladies, and I spend all my time keeping cups and cookie platters full, and the walls bulge out from the roars of feminine hilarity, and the cats hide in terror under the bed, I am delighted! If we are only three or four, and we have time to discuss the problems of the world in depth, and solve them all, I am hugely gratified. And when someone else volunteers to host it, I am willing to give them a chance to have the fun. too.

For decades, I have collected tea cups. DH spoils me with fancy table linens and serving pieces. I have two multi-layered sandwich plates, and boxes of napkin rings. If I didn't host these splendid parties, when would I ever use all these goodies? For my fiftieth birthday, we rented space, and had a catered Mad Hatter's Tea Party, using my wildly eccentric collection of cups and making everyone wear hats. The young ladies waiting tables were tickled to death with the concept, wore lovely hats of their own, and had vast fun matching cups with saucers and considering which set they liked best. It was a marvelous time.

I'm turning 60 next year. I wonder if it bears repeating? But this year, I want dancing boys.