Jubilee

It really is quite something to have been doing the same job for 60 years and Her Majesty has done rather well, so it felt like a diamond jubilee ought to be celebrated.

The design was stolen from a tea towel on pinterest and customised in photoshop.  A stamp was attached to the reverse and off the invitations went.  How flattered was I to find that several nearly ended up in the bin, mistakenly discarded as a mini Boden and a White Stuff catalogue?  

Anyway, "afternoon tea" it declared and here it is...

Of course you could find cucumber and smoked salmon sandwiches (amongst some other more edible varieties), scones with cream and jam, strawberries and cream plus lots of cakes including a rather delicious rhubarb cake and a Victoria Sandwich.

Cardboard cutouts of the Queen and Prince Philip waved cheerily from the front of Buck Pal while the little Mrs Queen, along with Prince Philip and the guards presided over the table.  They shared their fond memories of the Royal Wedding with anyone who would listen.

Beatrice and I had also created "jubilee buns".  Yes you bite into them and they are red, white and blue.  Yes the 100s and 1000s are red, white and blue too.  According to Bea, they taste better than ordinary buns and are perfect for breakfast.

For the kids all this was served up on wonderful paper plates from the pound shop.  The adults were treated to my proper willow pattern china, as there are very particular rules which must be adhered to when serving afternoon tea and "tea cups" would certainly fall into this category.  It does follow the blue and white theme however.

Thankfully the rains held off and we were able to disperse into the garden.

Or, there were a variety of colouring in pages to do, mazes to play or postage stamps to design.

In the garden there were step by step instructions on how to draw the Queen, Prince Philip or a corgi.

Ball games too are always an option when in the garden, and when they fly over the fence, it becomes a game challenge for the bigger boys.

Adam was the only one supple young foolish able to retrieve the ball.  Unfortunately he did find a rather nasty clump of nettles which necessitated Dr Bibb getting the "small doctor's bag" despite being officially on maternity leave.

All that remained was for each family to wave the flags and say "jubilee"* for a photograph.

Kudos to the Scarletts who dressed entirely in red, white and blue.

"jubileeeeeeeee"

"Oh a flag!"

* some people of course choose not to shout "jubilee" but an alternative statement of their own  ...ahem!

Finally, a pot of jubilee jam, some majesty mints and a party bag finished the day.

Of course, it was fun celebrating the Queen's diamond jubilee, but it makes me think about the biblical year of jubilee - that release of prisoners and return of land that is supposed to be an earthly event reflecting God's heart of grace.  I thank God that he has spoken "jubilee" over me.  

Luke 4, 18-19  and Jesus said....

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, 
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
    and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,  to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”

Now THAT really is a jubilee to celebrate!