Last week, I finished reading Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.  It has been YEARS since I last read it, and-as always- I just loved it.  To quote the truth of Nora Ephron's You've Got Mail, "I get lost in the language.  Words like thither.  Mischance.  Felicity.  I'm always in agony over whether Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy are really going to get together."  Oh, I just love that book!  One thing that I particularly enjoy about it, though, is that people are invited over for tea.  I don't know about you, but the last time I went to someone's house just for tea was for a tea party when I was about six years old.

Yesterday, my friends took me over to their neighbors' house to meet them.  When we got to their house, we were immediately invited to sit at the dining room table, and we were offered tea or coffee.  We were encouraged multiple times to have another cookie to accompany our tea too.  We chatted and debated American politics (I personally have had enough of that thanks to Facebook, but hey, people are interested) and after a time, their plumber arrived to do some work.  He too s invited for coffee before he started work.  After perhaps 45 minutes or an hour, we said goodbye and returned to my friends' house.

It is just the loveliest idea to me to be invited (or invite others) over for tea and cookies.  It is so wonderful to know that people still invest time into one another, and in the setting of a home rather than a coffee shop.  To be clear, in no way am I opposed to meeting up for a coffee.  There are few places I love more than coffee shops, and I don't think there is a beverage I love more than coffee.  Being in the setting of a home, though, not only presents the opportunity to show hospitality, as Paul instructed the Romans to do, but it also creates communion with one another that the hustle and bustle of a restaurant or café cannot offer.

And, of course, I will always jump at the opportunity to bake cookies or cakes, which brings even more delight to the idea of inviting others into my home.