Sheri Stuve:
Our home was built in the 1870's by a lumber man. It was sold many times. My grandparents lost it in 1937 when banks closed. We bought it back 50 years later and restored it.

The house was so tumbled down, windows down, trees in it. It was a big project. We tried to keep it as original as possible.

I guess because grandma was one of those pinch and dump and pour cooks and that's how I am, it's my favorite room.

My next favorite room is the dining room. This is where I do the tea parties. I serve all the courses of tea and I narrate.

I show my Russian Samovar . It sits in center of Russian home and they have hot water for tea all day long.

Then I serve all the courses of tea and narrate the tea. I serve my own cranberry-amaretto house tea.

A normal tea takes about 2 hours. I make all my food fresh that morning. I do scones, curds, cream and all the embellishments.

I have an old muffineer and a tea plant from a tea plantation. This is tea taster equipment. I have a moat spoon to scoop out the loose tea leaves.

I never was a coffee drinker. My friend always had my try different teas. I have all boys so I wanted to do something for the little girls.
My first tea was 10 little girls. It was wonderful.

I have men, boys, woman, people of all ages.

I provide vintage hats to wear.. if children can bring a doll and set it at doll tea table that's under my tea tree.

I have 12 trees for the 12 days of christmas. I just kept collecting ornaments and they kept overflowing.

I love ornaments and I needed a tree in every room.

I buy lots of ribbon and just garnish everything with ribbon and poinsettias.

I started Nov. 1 and finished Nov. 30.

People just love to come when the house is all decorated.. nov-jan.

I know a lot about tea that I can share. People find that interesting.

My main focus for the tea is so that friends and family can come together and set some time apart where they concentrate on each other and just a special time... Putting all the cares of everyday life aside and just having that special one on one time.. it's not even about what they eat or drink.. it's about family and friends being together. To me, that's the most important thing.

TEA PARTIES
WITH MISS SHERI
Mon.-Sat. by reservations
$11-$13 per person
6-20 people

(715) 382-5246
teathymes@hotmail.com