When Cristy Delicath and her daughter, Michele Cox, realized they were no longer having fun in their day-to-day jobs, they decided to have a tea party-every day.

In 2007, Cristy's Tea Room was created after knocking down some walls in an old dental practice building in Morton. Now it was a place for fun! "Everyone who comes here wants to come here," said Cristy. "It's not like going to the dentist or coming to get a loan. They are coming and having fun."

Unlike many tea rooms, Cristy's also serves full portions for lunch. You will not find quiche on the menu, but you might find an Italian beef or pulled pork sandwich to go with one of their many flavors of tea. And besides an afternoon of tea, this mother-and-daughter team offers a party room for young girls' birthday parties or showers for women who are engaged or expecting. Michele's oldest daughter, Bailey, has also helped with the family business by working the parties on weekends.

Each member of the family provides his or her own talents to the business-even Cristy's husband, Steve, who maintains the venue through maintenance work and occasionally serving. "I think we all have different strengths," noted Cristy. "We can tell Steve something that we need...and he can take our thoughts and do something with them. And Michele is much more creative than I am, so when we are going to design something new, she's much better at that. I am very detail-oriented, so I'm always the one who remembers that we need butter."

Though they wanted more fun in their life, a family-owned business is not always a cup of tea. Cristy tells others considering the venture to prepare to work 24/7 because there is always something to do outside of those 9-to-5 business hours.

But the long hours are not as much of an issue if you have a passion for what you do, like Cristy and Michele. Instead, it becomes fun for the owners as well as the customers who come for a good time-and Cristy says there is plenty of that. "There is just a lot of girlfriend time here, whether the girlfriends are 80 or 24." iBi