How do you celebrate those around you?

When we celebrate together, we are indicating the worth we attach to our relationships. Whether you bake the cookies yourself or take your Mother out to a fine dining restaurant, remember that food and celebration always go together when thoughtfully pursued and accomplish the ultimate mission – to honor those we love and show them how much they mean to us.

Thoughtful Fine Dining as Celebration

We all take pleasure in celebrating each other’s milestones in life: birthdays, anniversaries, a new baby, a new beaux, a new marriage. We commemorate a job well done, a graduation, a fine report card. By celebration, we deliberately and consciously take relish in life and in each other.

When we celebrate together we are indicating the worth we attach to our relationships. “You are so important to me that there is no way I will not celebrate the day you were born!” “Your team came in second in the tournament. That is nearly FIRST! You did well! Let’s celebrate!” “I have put this chocolate covered cherry in your lunch box as a reminder of how much I love you. Enjoy!” “I will miss you while you are gone. When you come back, let’s plan a romantic picnic in the mountains.” “Happy Unbirthday! I love you!”

But, how easy it is to get immersed in our work, our own busyness, and let important opportunities for celebration pass us by – means by which we can cement relationships, encourage intimacy, build someone’s self-esteem. We tend to forget that life is fragile, that time passes by in a flash. No, this is not a frivolous thing.

Celebration and a fine dining restaurant go hand in hand, and nothing brings these both together more than taking afternoon tea. This is one of the loveliest things about owning a fine dining tearoom – it is so delightful to be surrounded by celebrations, day after day! Daughters and sons come to honor their mothers; husbands and wives take delight in their cherished relationship; and girlfriends come to share the delights of friendship.

I can’t tell you how many adults become nostalgic over our tea sandwiches. “Only my mother ever cut the crusts off my sandwiches!” This is a question that begs an answer: how do you want to be remembered? What a small thing it is to cut the apple in wedges, to cut the crusts off the sandwich, to make the pancake into a Mickey Mouse shape. By these small acts we say, “You are very important to me, a special part of my life.” When we find reasons to celebrate, we are doing the same thing.

So make the time, take the effort necessary to make celebration a very real part of your life. The heart of etiquette is the value we place on others – we do unto them as we would have them do unto us. Show your loved ones their value. Exhibit extravagance in your care, not stinginess. Bring out the best china for dinner. If some gets broken, don’t worry; you have the memories, which are much more cherished and irreplaceable. Light the candles. Bake those special cookies.

And whether you bake the cookies yourself or take your Mother out to a fine dining restaurant, remember that food and celebration always go together when thoughtfully pursued, and accomplish the ultimate mission – to honor those we love and show them how much they mean to us.

Yours for celebrations,

Mary Alice Higbie