Elaine Kahler is a granddaughter’s dream come true.

Above, Elaine Kahler pours apple juice for her two granddaughters and their guests at a recent tea party. Jackie Leatherman/News-Herald Photo.

Just ask her two youngest, 6-year-old Alaina Kahler, and her sister, 4-year-old Ava.

“I like grandma, gives to me and presents to me,” Ava said. “I like her so much.”

Kahler recently threw her visiting granddaughters a tea party in her holiday wonderland home here.

It may not seem like a big deal — until her granddaughters and the five young guests saw what the closed drapes hid on the back patio.

Kahler started greeting guests around 2 p.m. Friday at her home on Chelsea Street. She opened the door, complete in apron, welcoming the girls into her living room.

Seven young girls, aged 4 to 10 years old, were handed a handmade apron — made just for the occasion — and took seats on their knees circling a round coffee table.

Large gift-wrapped presents hung on the walls, stockings hung by the fireplace, 10 pots of poinsettias were displayed on tables covered in cloth with the holiday flower print. More than 100 holiday trinkets — from carolers to snowman of all shapes and sizes — tastefully decorated the home.

They sat listening to Kahler talk about her 13 American Girl dolls. With her soft white hair carefully pinned into curls on top of her head, Kahler explained all of their names and a little of their stories. The doll collection launched in 1986 and each named doll comes with a book explaining the doll’s character.

Then the moment came to draw the drapes.

“These are my last two granddaughters,” Kahler said. “When they come, we try to do something special.”

For the past month, the 64-year-old said she has been running back and forth between her sewing machine and her house phone, where she handles her real estate business. She said she grew tired of wondering if dresses she was making for her granddaughters would fit when she visited them in Huntington Beach, Calif.

So she decided to start sewing dresses for her dolls.

Growing up in northeast Ohio, Kahler learned how to sew from her older sisters. And she, herself, can remember her first tea party at her friend Priscilla’s eighth birthday.

“She had her own little tea set,” she said. “I can still see myself sitting there in front of the fireplace with our dolls.”

Kahler joked, with a serious tone, that she might not be able to throw her granddaughters a tea party like this in 10 years.

She decided it was time now and brought her grandchildren back from California by overnight train for the holidays and invited children of friends who were visiting town for the holidays.

More than 50 doll outfits and dresses — half of them handmade by Kahler — hung in miniature open closets on her back patio. Each guest received their own handmade closet rack to hang their chosen doll clothes. After choosing one of the 13 dolls, each girl sifted through the racks looking for the perfect outfit. They had shelves of pants and hats to choose from and a row of small shoes.

They dressed and redressed their dolls and then took their seats on the carpet in front of miniature tea sets.

Kahler filled the small teapots with apple juice and hors d’oeuvres sandwiches cut into shapes without the crust were served.

Alaina explained the tea party etiquette taught to her by her grandmother.

“Only pour half a glass and no noise,” she said.

The girls sat, with their dolls next to them, finished their sandwiches and apple juice and then it was time to help make their own small loaf of banana bread.

Several of the guests said their favorite part of the day was dressing the dolls.

“It was kind of new for me,” said 10-year-old Cayman Kihme, visiting from South Dakota. “I don’t do it a lot.”

Six-year-old Keeli Satterfield from Portland, Ore., said she like “getting my doll dressed up and picking out my doll.”

Four-year-old Emma Jackson said it was her doll’s crown that made her day.

“I like dressing her up with her crown and her dress and her shoes and I really liked picking out stuff to dress her up.”

And 8-year-old Fiona Satterfield, Keeli’s sister, said she had been to two tea parties before.

“They are fun to go to,” she said. “I don’t really drink apple juice that very often, so it’s good to have and you are with your friends and stuff.”

About an hour into the tea party, it was obvious that Kahler’s thoughts, which led to the idea, were true:

“I think some of the old fashioned stuff is more fun,” she said.

You may contact the reporter at jleatherman@havasunews.com