My mom (and dad) raised us with plenty of love, affection, and encouragement to express our feelings. My mom always puts our needs before hers, and she never asks for anything in return; her love is unconditional and undeniable, and we are incredibly lucky to call her our mom. She is intelligent, independent, selfless, strong, cooky, and feisty. My mom is my rock, my best friend, the strongest person I know, and I don’t know what I would do without her.
Mother’s Day will definitely be different this year, and that’s okay, this isn’t the first year we stray from tradition. Last year, my maternal grandmother was diagnosed with cancer and had to undergo reconstructive surgery to remove her jaw and construct new gums with a skin graft from her leg, followed by a few weeks in the ICU, a couple of more weeks in the hospital, and about a month and half in a rehabilitation centre. It was a long gruelling process and I wish my grandmother didn’t have to go through it, but my mom was with my grandmother every step of the way, along with my aunt and uncle, she spent all her days off from work, or shifted her schedule to tend to my grandmother. My mom had a hard time seeing my grandmother in that state, as we all did, but she was tough on her when she needed an extra push in her physiotherapy sessions and when she would call herself ugly because her face was swollen and her teeth were gone.
What I witnessed my mom do for grandmother, and still do for her, is the most amazing thing I have ever witnessed. It’s absolutely beautiful. My grandmother needed her and she never complained; she just thought about my grandmother’s wellbeing. My grandmother would tell my mom that she shouldn’t visit her everyday because she would ware herself out, and she had to worry about work and her kids (my sister and I are in our late 20s and more than capable of being on our own) but, a mother always worries about everyone but themselves. Of course, my mom told her to stop talking nonsense because she wanted to be there, and she needed to be there. My mom told my grandmother that it was time that she sit back and let others help her for a change.
My mom and my grandmother are both the same; independent, selfless, and incredibly stubborn, and never ask for help, but they are always more than willing to lend a helping hand. They have such a great relationship and so much love for each other, and that relationship is mirrored with my mom, and my sister and I. We learned to appreciate the time we have together no matter the location or how we spend it, because every day is a celebration and we are so lucky to have each other.
Every year, my sister and I treat our mom to a day of shopping, brunch, and afternoon tea downtown. We love doing this every year, and of course my mom always tries to pick up the bill and says, “I’m just happy to spend time with my girls, that’s all I want”, but we don’t let her. But at her insistence, she does treat us to a few things while we’re shopping… it makes her happy.
But this year, we are hosting afternoon tea at our house and we’ve prepared the whole kit and caboodle; scones, finger sandwiches, cheese and crackers, a tea loaf, chocolate coated strawberries, cupcakes, a nice pot of tea and some sparkling wine. We’re using my Miranda Kerr’s Everyday Friendship Royal Albert tea set (FINALLY!).
We made two varieties of finger sandwiches; cucumber mayo and turkey dijon, and avocado and sun dried tomatoes on crackers, as well and Parmigiano cheese and chestnut honey on sesame rye crackers.
We made blueberry scones using Live Well Bake Often‘s recipe, and a date tea loaf using Donna Hay’s recipe. These recipes were so simple to accomplish and the end results were so tasty. We will definitely make them again. I will provide the links to these recipes below. We made chocolate coated strawberries, and Duncan Hines cake mix donuts and cupcakes. Our tea of choice was an english breakfast.
We had such a lovely time and my mom really loved and appreciated our gift to her. My dad was also impressed and happy to be invited this year.
Scone Recipe by Live Well Bake Often, and Date Tea Loaf Recipe by Donna Hay.