outdoor winter party

Earlier this winter, my big girl set up an outdoor party on a sunny and mild afternoon.  Setting up parties is her norm and I figured this would be another little party with the dollies.  When we were all invited to venture outside to attend the party she planned, I was overcome with an intense mixture of sadness and sweet joy.  The sadness was over the blooms I had nurtured all year that had been plucked as party food.  The beautiful magenta  bouganvilla flowers were floating in bowls of water with all my lush basil leaves. 

Both plants were completely bare of any leaves or blooms.  

But when I saw the sweet little celebration that my girl thoughtfully planned I quickly forgot about my precious plants and instead was drawn to the precious work she'd done.

She happily served an eager sister ,cousin and a doting great-grandmother too.  The aunts and uncles served themselves buffet-style per the request of the little party planner.

The bird dish was used for crayons and the dog dish was a serving bowl.

When I saw the heaps of beautiful blooms on our yellow outdoor plates, I couldn't help but see that my girl has an appreciation for the beautiful colors of the outdoors.  So beautifully mixed, the colors made for a beautiful end of fall celebration.  

{It did help knowing that our first freeze was just around the corner and I knew all these plants would die then.  Had it been mid-summer, I may have had a slightly different reaction to this little celebration!}