Eat like a grownup.

I mentioned earlier that Lithuanians, like many Europeans, entertain on Sundays.

My paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, loved to cook and socialize. She usually was the one who proposed having parties. My Mom often was less thrilled with the idea because she regularly was exhausted. Mom worked on Saturdays, and on Sunday mornings, she would do hospital rounds while Dad and I went to the zoo. When Mom returned from those rounds, she readied the house by dusting, cleaning bathrooms, and setting the dining room table for the mid-day party.

When the family hosted Sunday dinner, the children ate at a separate table in the kitchen. We sat at the dining table only on rare holidays, like Kūčios.

An easier entertaining alternative was to invite friends over for tea. We served tea in the living room, at the coffee table. Tatjana and Mom had special, embroidered tablecloths that they would use for the tea parties: "tea cloths." The guests would arrive in the late afternoon, and we would serve a variety of pastries. Tatjana often baked a yeasted coffee cake ("pyragas ant mielių"). I was disappointed by the yeast cakes because I wanted sweet, American cakes with heavy frosting and sugary flowers.

I nonetheless was thrilled when guests came to tea because I was not banished on those occasions to a children's table. My Parents instead allowed me to sit with the adults and eat like a grownup.

Even today, I love to entertain guests in the sunny living room. It's much more fun to graze around a coffee table than to eat at the dining table. If you've eaten at our coffee table, Mr. Irene and I hope you enjoyed the visit.

Suburban Chicago, April 1961. Mom, Tatjana, and I host Sunday tea. I sit in one of the painted chairs from the Rec Room play table. Mom has me dressed in red again, and she's wearing those red shoes!  There's little other color in the gray living room.

Mom tells me that red shoes were all the rage then.