Little Treasure

A baby shower invitation like this one calls people to a late morning in a small blush room, where the tables are set with teacups rather than a buffet line. Tea goes out first, then sandwiches and something sweet on a tiered stand. The mother sits in one soft chair near the window and stays there, because every guest comes to her in turn.

Guests arrive holding books instead of envelopes. Each one is signed on the inside cover, with a name and a line meant for the baby to read later, and the stack grows along the edge of the gift table all morning. The gifts themselves are small and chosen to be kept: a pearl-clasp purse, a gold chain, an engraved spoon, things that will sit in a drawer for twenty years before anyone needs them.