"Who
knows the story of Alice in Wonderland?" Dawn Nero asks the
circle of girls sitting on her parlor floor.
Five
hands shoot up into the air as they sing in chorus, "I do!"
"Good!
Because we're going to have a Mad Hatter tea party, so we
all have to know the story." Nero opens a giant picture book
and begins an abbreviated version of the Lewis Carroll classic.
The pre-schoolers sit attentively, cross-legged, black patent
leather shoes peeking out from beneath folds of party dresses.
With each turn of the page, they collectively lean closer.
Nero doesn't really need the book; she could tell this story
by heart. She's been telling it every weekend for the last
three years. That's when her idea for a home-based business
blossomed into "Tea Parties with Alice."
