Families and Companies Created around Grandma’s Table!
The Chief Blonde (middle..beige overalls) with her cousins and Grandma
When I was little, my family and I went to visit my grandma and grandpa at least once a week. When we weren’t outside helping Grandma with her flowers…
or playing in Grandpa’s apple orchard…
we were in the house..almost always sitting around Grandma’s table.
Grandma’s table was a light blonde faux wood formica number, edged in chrome, from the late ’40s/early ’50s. It was truly resilient and lasted her until the day she died at 86. A lot happened around that table. Grandpa cut all his grandsons’ hair at the table…
The Chief Blonde’s brother loving his buzz cut from Grandpa
We played games, especially with the Carrom board around Grandma’s table…
The Chief Blonde in a lovely purple dress with her brother…can’t imagine why I was making that face?
We grandchildren ate a lot of foods around Grandma’s table, not just meals, but tons of yummy snacks.
Grandma would toast the large four square saltine crackers (why don’t they make these big saltines anymore???) and then butter them, topping off the whole concoction with her homemade strawberry freezer jam. The salty and the sweet combo of this snack was divine!
Of course, the adults enjoyed Grandma’s table too. Loud card games (with tons of swearing and insults) went on deep into the night as the grandchildren attempted to sleep in various bedrooms.
Look at the men smoking right in the house! Smoking cigars no less, right at Grandma’s table! You could have cut through the smoke with a knife, it was so thick. These were different times indeed!
Almost every birthday was celebrated at Grandma and Grandpa’s house.
And every holiday, for years, we wore our Sunday best, ate special family dishes, and drank tea around Grandma’s table.
The Chief Blonde’s grandmother (in gray) and her brother enjoy tea and cake
My grandparents worked hard to create wonderful family memories for us. They shared their hopes and dreams and memories as we gathered around Grandma’s table, and as a result, they created a wonderful close loving family that blooms to this day.
Around Grandma’s Table with Bigelow Tea
This is why Bigelow Tea and its history means so much to me. Cindi Bigelow, third-generation owner and company president, tells the story of how Bigelow tea was created around her Grandma’s table.
The company was started by my grandmother back in 1945 in her kitchen..(by) Ruth Campbell Bigelow and her husband David. They worked together. Really, what happened is..she was an interior designer, she lost everything during the depression. She wanted to get into business for the family, didn’t think we had a good tea, and created this wonderful product from an old colonial recipe and named it Constant Comment. That’s really what started us… I always like people (customers, employees) to remember our company roots, our history, it is that what makes this company so special. We are the number one specialty tea company in the country and I am convinced it’s because of the family aspect!
Bigelow’s Constant Comment Tea, a beautiful black tea with orange rind and black spice, is America’s favorite specialty tea to this day! Ruth Campbell Bigelow couldn’t have realized the impact that she would make on generations of her family or America as she toiled in her kitchen and around her table to develop and create one of this country’s most iconic products. I know my family has always enjoyed Bigelow products. My husband, Walt, is currently hooked on Bigelow’s green tea blends while I love Orange & Spice Herb Tea.
Bigelow Tea’s Founders Ruth and David Bigelow serving tea around their table
I admire Ruth, the company’s founder, and current president, Cindi Bigelow, for keeping this personal family element of pride in their product lines. Did you know that family members are involved in the creation, development and tasting of every new product to this day? While both my grandmother and Cindi Bigelow’s grandmother have now passed from this earth, I can almost see Ruth Campbell Bigelow smiling as she watches over her family with pride, just as surely as my grandmother must be!
Blog Note: The Chief Blonde was not compensated in any manner for this post. I wrote this as an entry in a contest for a trip to Bigelow Tea’s Plantation in Charleston, NC. Should I win, my date will be my loving husband Walt but I’ll bring a picture of Grandma, because she would have loved to sit around Cindy Bigelow’s table as well!
UPDATE: The Chief Blonde was chosen to attend a special event in Charleston based on this post. She is extremely grateful to Collective Bias, Bigelow tea and everyone who supported her in this post!
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Such wonderful memories. I have never heard of bigelow tea before and I am so happy for the introduction!
Great story and wonderful photos! I love looking back at old photos of my parents and grandparents. And I, too, remember visiting my grandparents quite often. Great memories.
My grandma had her hot tea traditions to pass down, too. She had hot black tea with lemon, but my great aunt taught me to make Constant Comment with boiling water, dip the bag in just three times, no sugar. I was a rebel and had to have sugar in mine, of course. 🙂 But I think my great aunt had the right idea!
What a fantastic collection of memories. We do a lot of the same going to grandma’s house weekly for Sunday dinner, celebrating all holidays there and all. The kids love it.
We use Bigelow tea all the time. Especially when we get sick. Their herbal blends are our favorite and we steep them in apple juice for the kids. They taste so good! Like spiced cider.
I think this just may be one of my favorite posts of yours. I remember you sharing your grandma’s icebox cookies with Bigelow a month or so back and that recipe was delicious. Now you’ve brought us into your home and I can truly see how Bigelow helped shaped your family memories!
Love the story and it brings back memories of my own grandma. Bigelow tea was a stable at Grandma’s. She made it when you were sick, when you were well, as a treat. It’s as good today as it was then.
You have such amazing memories about your family! I didn’t realize that Bigelow Tea was also started as a family business. I love their tea.
My memories are around my great-grandmother. Each summer I would fly down to visit her and my grandfather. When he was at work, she would teach me things and spend time with me. It is/was one of my favorite childhood memories!
That’s such a sweet story! The pictures are fantastic! They really show a strong sense of family.
I love those pictures! Brings back wonderful memories of times I had with my parents and grandparents when I was young.
What a great story. I love Bigelow tea and knew it has still family owed. Your childhood sounds a lot like mine. Grandma and Grandpa’s house was were we spent a lot of time as kids. Your story brought back a lot of great memories for me. Thanks for sharing!
I love the photos! They took me back for a minute! Thank you for sharing!
That’s a great story about Bigelow tea. Your post brought back so many memories of my own childhood at my grandparents…the holidays, the flower garden, the apples, the birthdays, the games, and the late night card games while we were tucked into bed in the bedrooms!
I like how you tied in your own experience with your Grandmother and thee product- it made it mean ore .
Great photos, thanks for sharing!
This almost brought me to tears! These could have been pics taken right out of my family album! Thanks for the memories!
Those are wonderful photographs. Thanks for sharing!
Such wonderful photos of your grandmother and your family! Thank you for sharing them. It looks like you had some good times around your grandmother’s table.
I don’t have photos like that, but I do have some warm memories of eating at my Nana’s table. All of Nana’s food was special for some reason. Like Nana, I suppose.
Amazing life story. Thank you for sharing such a glimpse of a wonderful time. May new families today get this rich of an opportunity to enjoy one another! Only missing the family pets to complete the picture!!!
What a great story about how Bigelow Tea was created by Ruth Campbell Bigelow and her husband David. I have had Bigelow tea and it is very good. I liked learning about the Bigelow family and how the company is still in the family! I also liked seeing your pictures of your childhood because I also grew up in your era and remember going to Grandma’s house and all of my Dad’s brothers sitting around smoking and eating homemade German food made by my Grandma. It was the best German pie and German noodles that I have ever eaten!
I LOVE this!!!