The three of us had the most delightful afternoon today. A few days ago, Chris heard about a Christmas Teddy Bear Tea (in support of UNICEF) at the Peninsula Hotel here in BKK. Since he and I like tea, and Madeline is rather fond of teddy bears, we made a reservation. It was a wonderful event with delicious little finger sandwiches, scones with strawberry and mango jam, a dessert buffet, and (finally!) a good cup of chai tea. It was kind of like the time that Chris and I, pre-Madeline, had afternoon tea at the Savoy in London. Except, Madeline was with us this time. She introduced the two teddy bears that she'd brought to the large teddy bear (read: person in a head-to-toe bear costume) who came around to our table. She was initially shy when the gentleman in the Santa costume came to chat with her, but an hour later, she happily chattered away with him, delighted with the chocolates and trinkets that he pulled from his sack. And the magician blew her away with his vanishing red foam balls, his mysteriously-changing deck of cards, and the colouring book where the pictures would appear and disappear when she tapped it with a magic wand ...
I nibbled at my scones and sipped my cup of tea, somewhat disbelieving that we were having tea in a hotel reputed to be the world's best because my three year old was being treated like she was the most important person at our table. I could almost forget that the sun was beating down on the bustling Chao Phraya on the other side of the window to the tune of thirty-eight degrees Celsius in this predominantly Buddhist country because if I looked the other way, I saw a massive and real Christmas tree covered in lights, ornaments and bunting, and hotel staff running around in red-and-white elf outfits. The band was playing holiday music. We'd clearly found a little bit of Christmas spirit, and we had the best time.
Today was probably the most enjoyable day I've had with my daughter and husband since arriving here five months ago, and Chris and I have already agreed that we'll come again for the Teddy Bear Tea a year from now, and the year after that, if we're still living in Bangkok. In the past, we've tried to fit our family-of-three into the Christmas celebrations of our originating families. We each grew up with different traditions, and it's not always easy to appreciate the differences and have the same feeling of connectedness to practices that we didn't grow up with. As a threesome, Christmases felt a little untethered.
There was something really comfortable about our tea today. It fit the three of us perfectly. Who knew that we'd find the first Christmas tradition of our own in country where Christmas Day isn't even a holiday.
