Cynthia woke up her sister Veronica.

“Today’s, the day!” she yelled.

Veronica was still very sleepy and seemed a little confused about her sister's excitement.

“The day for what?” she asked.

But she was too late. Cynthia had already left the room.

“Today’s the day for the Tea Party!” 

Cynthia ran into her other sister’s room.

Emily, Cynthia's oldest sister, was sitting at her desk drawing one of her pictures.

As soon as Emily looked up, Cynthia was already gone and running into another part of the house.

Cynthia ran into the dining room and expected to see the wonderful Tea Party.

But there was nothing there except Mommy’s laptop computer.

“Where’s the Tea Party?” Cynthia asked.

Mommy walked into the dining room. She was wearing a nice blouse with a pair of comfortable sweatpants.

This was what she would wear ever since she started working from home.

“Sorry, honey. I am booked with meetings all day today,” Mom said in her serious and beautiful, sing-song voice.

Cynthia was very upset and ran down the hallway to her room, crying. Emily and Veronica walked past Cynthia and saw their mother.“I’m sorry. I just don’t have any time today, girls," she said. Then she asked Emily and Veronica, "Can you help me?” 

“Sure, Mom,” said Veronica in her usual positive manner. “We will take care of it, Mom,” said Emily. “You taught us how to set up a Tea Party and we won't let you down!”

“Thank you, girls. But be careful. Remember what I’ve always told you when you have  a Tea Party?”

“I remember,” said Emily. “Me too,” said Veronica. The two of them said, mimicking their mother’s voice: “Oh, the places we will go!”

Mom laughed.

Emily and Veronica walked into Cynthia’s room. Cynthia was on the bed with her head under her pillow.

“Get out!” she yelled. Cynthia could be feisty at times.

"Cynthia..." Veronica began in a comforting voice. 

“But Mom promised,” Cynthia cried from beneath the pillow.

“Don’t worry,” said Veronica in her usual supportive way. “We are going to have our own Tea Party,” Emily added confidently.

Cynthia removed her head from under the pillow. “Really?” she asked sheepishly.

“Emily and I know exactly what to do!” Veronica said emphatically.

“I will get the things from the kitchen,” Veronica said.

“I will make the tea,” added Emily.

”I will help you!” Cynthia said.

“I will get the table ready while Mom watches the kettle boil,” yelled Emily.

“I will bring the cups, the saucers, and the tablecloth,” Veronica sang at the top of her lungs. 

Cynthia jumped in front of her sister to block the door. "What should I do?” Cynthia asked.

Emily and Veronica both answered at the same exact time.“Clean your room!” they yelled together.

“All right, already!” Cynthia ran back to her room to clean it up. She didn't like cleaning her room.

"And put on your nicest dress," Veronica added.

Finally, the table was set up in Cynthia’s room.

On top of the table was a pretty table cloth and on top of the tablecloth were all of the accessories.

A beautiful teapot that looked like a globe and three teacups on top of saucers were there as well.

Emily poured the tea. Veronica helped her sister while Mom peeked in from the hallway.

“There are several steps in having a tea party. Right, Veronica?” Emily asked.

“Absolutely,” Veronica smiled. “Mom taught us and now we’re going to teach you. The first step…”

“I know. I know!” yelled Cynthia.

“Ok,” Emily asked. “What is the first step?”

“People! We need people to come to the party. So we need to send out invitations!”

“You’re right, Cynthia,” Veronica said.

“That’s right,” responded Emily. “But because it will just be three of us today, no invitations will be necessary.”

“Just us three,” sang Veronica. “The Sisters Three.”

The sisters all laughed and sat down.

“What’s the next step?” asked Cynthia.

“Step One…” Veronica began.

Cynthia interrupted.  “After the invitations, right?” 

“Okay, Step Two…” Veronica corrected herself. Emily smiled approvingly.

“Step Two is making sure you have all of the materials.”

“Materials?” Cynthia asked. 

"Yes,” Emily agreed.

 “You need to make sure you have enough cups, enough saucers, enough biscuits, and enough…”

“Tea!” shouted Cynthia.

Step three,” Emily started, “requires us to set the table. That means that we need to have a formal setting like this.”