Do you have to have everything match just so? Do you have a mixture of colors and styles of dishes? Do you use paper plates, so that you can toss everything out?
I have a set of “our” china that I use for one holiday meal. And a set of “family” china that we use for another.
Our family is very fortunate, in that we have a lot of physical memories of and from our ancestors. Many people are not that fortunate. But this is a way that they can build their own memories.
We have been married many decades now. And have bits and pieces left from different sets of dishes that we have had over the years. Our first “everyday” dishes were white stoneware with a scroll design. They were a nice plain base for whatever food that I was learning to cook during the early days of marriage.
Some of our friends joined together and bought us our first “set” of dishes…everyday and fancier dinner stoneware, a white main plate, with a shades of brown border pattern, from Mikasa. Over the years we have had some other styles of plates, including stoneware ones with small blue pineapples (the symbol of hospitality); and clear pressed glass ones with an overall floral pattern.
My Grandparents had started to buy my “hope chest” fancy china place settings, and added to them for the first main events, holidays, etc of our marriage. These were my very simple, yet elegant, Lenox place settings, a creamy white with a pair of silver bands. Forty+ years later, these are our main special occasion place settings.
A few years ago, John’s Aunt and Uncle passed away. They had a set of dishes that his grandmother had “china painted” on the embossing. We bought these at a “family discount” during their Living Estate downsizing sale. We use these for a few special meals a year, and recall family dinners over decades using that set of china.
A couple years ago, two of our grand-daughters bought us lovely stoneware dishes, for a Christmas gift. The main part of the plates are different solid colors, with all having white borders. These work very well for all sorts of meal presentations…I really do like a solid color for the main plate. It is a nice background for whatever you are serving. I do not like how an overall pattern “fights” with the food placed upon it.
Our daughters have inherited china and “everyday” dishes from both sides of the family. My paternal grandparents had a tiny floral pattern on their European china. Our oldest daughter inherited those pieces. The china has traveled to many states with her and is still doing well. Our youngest inherited their everyday “early” Melmac in muted Autumnal colors. I never cared for those dishes. But she has made a cult around them, and I must admit the soup bowls are just the right size! This same daughter has also inherited a very fancy set of Golden Wheat patterned Lenox, that became hers from a Great Great Aunt and Uncle through her father’s side of the family.
Our middle daughter has inherited John’s mother’s Blue Willow china: The very fancy pieces and the more everyday dishes. There is so much of it that it took boxes and boxes to pack it.
Currently in the Antique Shop, we have a full set of Old Homestead green patterned china from John’s parents. We also have a few very cute pieces of a yellow dish with colonial farmstead patterns on them. We also have sent to auction a set of yellow depression ware (colored glass with pressed patterns). We still have some gorgeous pieces of green depression ware in various patterns that John’s mother collected over the years.
In storage, are some pastel plates (not a complete set) that my mother bought in a box lot at auction eons ago, and her fancy stoneware, in an Autumnal orange poppy pattern. Plus she had odds and ends of previous “sets” of dishes, which are in boxes waiting to be utilized and remembered.
There are many points to this reminiscence. First, we are so very fortunate to have things from many generations back on both sides of the family. Second, we could never possibly absorb it all, and despite having three daughters; and three grand-daughters and a grand-son, there is only so much that we can pass down. Third, we are all great believers in recycling.
Antiques are a wonderful way to reduce, re-use, recycle, and repurpose. Instead of buying cheap plastic or metal trays to give out Christmas cookies, or other food gifts, use pieces of old china or stoneware. If you do not have family hand-me-downs, you can find pieces at antique shops, auctions, flea markets, Estate sales, and charity stores, where your purchases assist others.
A wonderful restaurant that we went to in Amsterdam was just opening. They invited all their friends to come to a Grand Opening dinner. They were asked to bring a place setting and leave it as the “price” of their meal or “gift” to the restaurant. None of the place settings matched. And despite my preference for a plain center on my plates, we all enjoyed the thought and colorfulness that went into this restaurant’s décor. And it assisted the owners with an expensive part of opening their restaurant. It also lured friends and acquaintances back to see “their” dishes at work, great marketing!
We are very conscious of “sustainable” living. When we go to Slow Food events, we bring our own place settings, and utensils, bag them up at the end of the meal, and bring them back home.
Other friends of ours have picked out special place settings over the years, and each family member has “their” own dishes at the table. This works best with a solid color tablecloth, or placemats.
Older dishes at a picnic or barbeque are more solid than paper products, and hold up under sauces, cutting with utensils, etc. If something gets broken in transit back and forth from the kitchen or grill, it is not a catastrophe.
So, reduce, reuse, recycle, repurpose and re-enjoy the family tableware again and again. Thanks for the Memories.
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