A Cinderella Themed Table Fit for a Princess
This weekend, our women’s ministry held their annual brunch. I love this event, because something unexpected always comes out of it. This is not a fussy event, namely because these wonderful ladies are not fussy either. We are a Jesus-loves-you-in-jeans-or-a-skirt kinda crowd. You don’t have to love glitter (hallelujah!) and there is no secret handshake.
Each table is decorated in a different theme by a table hostess (a fancy title for whoever signed up). I have a secret love for putting together birthday parties. I have not always felt that way, but my boy child’s love language is in deeds and details. So out of love for him, a joy in finding simple fun has emerged. Having shown up to brunch for years, I figured it was probably my turn. And because “free time” is not even on the radar for me right now, it had to be simple.
It didn’t take long for me to figure out what theme I wanted to do- I knew it had to be Cinderella. 1) She’s my favorite 2) I love the story 3) I had plenty of Cinderella laying around the house (keep it simple, keep it fun). There it was – a Cinderella themed table fit for a princess!
I thought for a moment to do something non-Disney, because after all this is church. Disney doesn’t belong in church, right? WRONG! The focus of this year’s brunch was finding our spiritual gifts. It made me giggle because over the years, I have developed an innate ability to correlate most Bible study subjects to movies, most of them Disney. Let me be clear- I do not worship a mouse, nor do I pray for pixie dust. However, I do find it makes it easy to explain a subject to others or to make the correlation in my head.
I pulled my blue and silver china out of the very top cabinet, and washed years of dust off of the plates. I had contemplated getting rid of it recently, because we just never use it. Yet, I found myself delighting in the pattern details amongst the soapsuds. I found the box in the top of my closet with my fancy linens that I never use and pulled out my Great Aunt’s lace tablecloth. It was a red letter day. I just hand washed dishes and linens. There is a running joke in our house- if it can’t be thrown in the washer or the dishwasher, don’t even bring it home (hence my love for machine washable costumes). If I had ironed that day as well, it would have caused a rip in the time-space continuum.
Next, I pulled a square box out of my closet that I keep lovingly tucked away in my special spot. (My closet floor is my “me” place- it is where I gather my composure on rough days and where I read my Bible). In this box, held my husband’s grandmother’s Bradbury Exchange Cinderella plate. When she passed, everyone knew exactly who would treasure it. I never hung it up, only because I couldn’t find the right place for it. When I needed encouragement, I opened the box and thought of her warm, beautiful smile. I had to find a way to work in Grandma Slavik’s plate. I made sure to include my little one so I could pass on what each piece was, where is came from and in terms she could understand what they meant. Even at 3, she joyfully set each place setting.
There are so many beautiful aspects of Cinderella I could have tied in, but I decided to focus on happiness, worthiness and hope.
“Oh, that clock! Old killjoy. I hear you. “Come on, get up,” you say, “Time to start another day.” Even he orders me around. Well, there’s one thing. They can’t order me to stop dreaming.”
Happiness is a choice my friends. It can be so hard to find in our day-to-day “chores” but among the cinders, the scrubbing, the cooking, the mending, and the carpool there can be happiness. But is a choice you must make every. single. day.
Worthiness. No crazy cat lady can lock in you in attic. She can throw away the key, but cannot keep you from being found. EVERY maiden was invited to the ball. Don’t let a jealous lady with a cat named Lucifer make you feel unworthy because she makes you feel like a servant girl. You are a daughter of THE King. You are indeed a Princess.
“And yet, through it all, Cinderella remained ever gentle and kind, for with each dawn she found new hope that someday her dreams of happiness would come true”
Hope. Life was never promised to be easy. We are promised to get our happy ending. We are promised our happily ever after.
“In dreams you will lose your heartaches. Whatever you wish for, you keep. Have faith in your dreams, and someday, your rainbow will come smiling through. No matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing, the dream that you wish will come true”
Yes, I used gray plastic ware with china, and a plastic table cloth under the lace. I used paper napkins because I couldn’t find the cloth ones, and I used plastic flutes because I knew I would never have all 8 of my everyday tea goblets clean at one time. No one judged me for it. It was not done with a heart desiring to impress- it was done with a heart to have fun. If I had obsessed on the nitty gritty details of what I didn’t do, it would have sucked the fun right out of it. It was just a table. It was beautiful as it was. I was happy, and more importantly my daughter, and some pretty special ladies shared it with me.
?? Where did you find ??
The tiara in the centerpiece is from Walt Disney World, the glass slipper in the centerpiece and the wooden spools were from Hobby Lobby, the small plastic slippers in the table settings were found in the bridal section at Hobby Lobby, and the wands, plastic ware, and flutes are found in nearly every party supply store.
Share This:
