Teatime Keeps the Grumpies Away

This year you will be seeing some Guest Posts by Malena, who Natalie and I tutored in math and humanities last year. She is in ninth grade this year and I have the good fortune to still be her humanities tutor… and to have regular teatimes with her 🙂 Here is an article she wrote about our teatimes in the past:

Teatime Keeps the Grumpies Away (it really does)

by Malena

On Mondays and Fridays, when I have math and humanities lessons with Natalie and Pamela, we almost always have teatime. Usually, we have tea in the afternoon after math and before humanities. We always have Assam or Organic Breakfast tea and I always have my tea with milk and sugar. Each time we have tea we have a different snack or treat. We may have peanut butter cookies, pancakes, corn muffins, Irish cheese and pretzels, omelets, dates, bread and Irish butter, banana bread, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, or my favorite grilled cheese sandwiches with onion garlic jam! Pamela and Natalie are very good cooks and bakers.

During the winter months, we have tea at a cozy table by the kitchen window while the sun sets. We have conversations about all kinds of things while we have our tea. If you tiptoed into the next room and peeked around the corner, you might hear us talking passionately about the meaning of two words (for example, the difference between hypocrisy and paradox), or little known historical facts (for example, the first president of the United States was John Hanson not George Washington. Did you know that?). You might hear Jiji, the cat, meowing and the wind chimes on the porch singing. You would see a colorful tablecloth and steam rising from the teapot. If you kept watching, you would see me lift my teacup to my lips and Jiji curl up next to me purring.

One day, Pamela gave me a little white teapot, a smaller version of their teapot. It wasn’t my birthday or Christmas, or any holiday. The teapot is so cute and the perfect size for me. I love to make tea in it and have teatime with my dad when I am working on my lessons at home. I know that I will cherish my little teapot forever.

On one of my Friday lessons with Natalie and Pamela, I brought homemade banana muffins. My dad takes good care of a banana tree in our backyard and every year, at the beginning of spring, we get delicious sweet bananas.

I think that everyone should have teatime once in a while alone or with a friend. It’s nice to take a break and relax with a cup of tea and your friends. If you are having tea alone you can just gather your thoughts. If you are tired or having a hard day you can take a tea break to restore your energy to finish the day. A teatime a day keeps the grumpies away!