Using the Good China

I didn't register for china back when we got married; by and large, that wasn't part of the culture in the rural area in which I grew up. My Sweet Baboo already had a goodly assortment of Old Town Blue Corelle, and I figured that was good enough.

But my DMIL had a bit of Royal Albert Christmas china that she pulled out at the holidays...it added to the festivity and the honor of the season. And I thought that was neat. So I began to watch for something I could use like that.

And, just about that time, Lenox introduced a holly pattern named, appropriately enough, 'Holiday' that was both very pretty and very pricey. There were a couple of other manufacturers that began producing holiday-themed dishes right around then, too...but most of them looked kind of cartoonish and just didn't appeal much to me like the elegance of the Lenox dishes.

So, little by very little, I began accumulating pieces of 'Holiday' china.

A place setting here, a serving piece there. It went into boxes for 'someday.'

I used a couple of the serving pieces for a Christmas party years ago, but mostly it stays in the boxes.

About a week ago, I thought about my Holiday china and about my kids who are now teenagers and young adults.

I decided it was high time I pulled out the dishes for the holidays; I was pretty sure we had enough for everyone.

So The Princess got the job of pulling out plates and a couple of serving pieces and cleaning them up so we could use them today. She didn't know we had them. I'd actually forgotten *what* I had...if I'd've been more on the ball, we could've used the salt/pepper shakers and sugar bowl/creamer, too, but I wasn't thinking that far ahead.

I know I have 'save it for good' drilled into my head like just about everyone else. And there is a little wisdom in that; there needs to be some special things that are 'for good'...because that adds to the specialness of the event. But sometimes we don't pay enough attention to realize what 'good' is.

Thanksgiving dinner, with everyone home and healthy (even if The Artist is on crutches), is definitely 'good.'

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!