tea time

It's getting to be cocoa season, I was going to say. Tea season.

Then I realized it's always tea season.

You might think my mom was British, unless you knew your immigrant history. Then you'd think my mom was from a Nordic farm family. And you'd be right.

There were certain things we looked forward to when we went to Grandma's (not Grandpa's, not Grandma and Grandpa's) when we were little: 1) Her larger-than-life unisex (but known as male) baby doll, Spike; 2) walking in Grandma's pasture; 3) Grandma's dog, Hoover, whom we got excited to see but were too scared to pet; 4) Grandma's big morning breakfasts; 5) sleeping in Betty Lyn's bed; 6) various toys singular to Grandpa; and 7) coffee time.

Yes, I said coffee time. And yes, I alluded to a tea time in the introduction. Really, coffee time includes a tea option. But I'm sure you will humor me, as saying "it's always coffee season" just wouldn't have had the same effect.

It was common for farm families way back when to have coffee times at set times of the day, where coffee was accompanied by a snack of some sort. Grandma and Grandpa and their children and cousins and siblings have coffee time in their blood and it is still observed. It's not a "we will remember our heritage" kind of observance, but more so they don't know life without coffee time. It would be a painful effort to take it out of the day. And there's simply no reason to do so.

Coffee times at Grandma's are: 1) immediately following breakfast, without snack; 2) 10 a.m., with cake, cookies or other dessert available; 3) immediately following lunch, without snack; 4) 3 p.m., with the leftovers or possible new options from the 10 a.m. session; 4) immediately following supper, without snack; 5) usually around 7 p.m....I get fuzzy about the ones after supper. I was little enough that I'd get shooed off to bed, or was more concerned about when ice cream might be.

My mom has coffee time, too, usually all by herself. I don't know if this is a practice she always had and I just didn't notice it until a few years ago, or if it has recently become defined. For sure, her coffee times (some being coffee, and some tea -- sometimes a day will include both and some months she is really into one of them) include a 3 p.m. and a 9 p.m. As I haven't lived at home for years I'm, again, sketchier on the rules following meals and on the morning cup. There is usually one cup of something with morning devotions, though. Tea times are something you do not want to mess with in Mom's day. She's not obsessive, but if you've been out all afternoon at a movie or something, it's not unusual for her to say in the car at 6 p.m. "I haven't had my tea" and head to the sink to fill the kettle as soon as she steps in the door.

(Her recent purchase of a new, shiny tea kettle is a separate, controversial subject.)

3 p.m. survives in my immediate family as the natural time you consume a dessert on the weekends, should one be prepared.

But coffee and tea have not caught on so well for us. I have now come to a point in my life where I can drink both, but don't yet enjoy it. My goal is to become a proficient drinker, as you aren't really considered an adult in a way in Grandma and Grandpa's house until you've moved from coffee time Kool-aid to a hot, non-cocoa beverage. My father, by these standards, is not an adult; most of my (younger) cousins are.