Thursday, January 06, 2005

Speaking of China

When I first moved to my apartment a year ago, I mentioned here in my journal that I was excited to finally unpack my grandmother's china which had been in storage for the previous five years. Back then I didn't have my digital camera so I wasn't able to share a picture of it. I took this picture a while back but never got around to posting it.

I was so excited to receive these pieces in the mail a while back. I think my mom will be excited to know this tid-bit too. I found more pieces on Replacements.com to add to my pattern. You see, this pattern by Noritake has been out of print for a while now. After a little research, I found out that this pattern is as old as I am! I believe my Uncle bought these dishes in Japan for my grandmother when he was in the Navy years ago.  When my grandmother died, her set was divided between my mom and my aunt. I have service for six but a piece or two is cracked or chipped and there are items that I didn't have like the creamer and sugar bowl above. I am now able to add to my service and there are serving pieces that I didn't even know existed. One of the next items I want to get is the nightlight. I'm intrigued to find out what it looks like. The website doesn't show a picture of it.

I must confess that I don't use these dishes on a daily basis but I do use them from time to time and I do use the sugar bowl and creamer daily. One of the reasons I don't use them as my everyday dishes is because I like my blue patterned dishes. But, I also feel like I am responsible for keeping these in tack so that they can be passed down to the next generation in the family. I look forward to being able to add to the service so the next person to receive these will have even more. It's kind of neat to think that some day someone else will get to enjoy these dishes as their own. My hope is that they will stay in the family for a long time to come. I was just thinking that as I add more pieces I'll take pictures then put together some  kind of scrapbook to include with the dishes when they are passed down so the history isn't lost in the generations to come.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

those are VERY pretty, and you have some wonderful ideas, robbie!  a scrap-photo book and adding to the collection, just great!  you are a very special and caring person. yup, you are.  
so how did the waking up early and primping yourself up a little bit make you feel?

i hope you look in the mirror each morning, smile at yourself, and then smile some more!   :)    have a great day today!!   we are having a SNOW DAY!!!!

xo Phinney

Anonymous said...

Your china is pretty!  I have used Replacements.com also.  Also, try e-bay.  I was replacing some of my broken pieces and found a couple of good deals on e-bay.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful china Robbie!!  I too have a box of china left to me by my great grandmother.  I haven't even opened the box, except to look at the first things on top.  I was just thinking of it actually for the past two days, almost like she was yelling at me from the grave (she has been gone over 25 years) to open the darned box!  I think I may go searching now to find it in the basement.  The least I could do is display it in my kitchen somewhere right?  
Hugs and love, Lisa

Anonymous said...

One reason NOT to use your good china every day is that, if you put it in the dishwasher, the gold will wash off eventually.  I'm all for using nice things, but I don't want to wash dishes by hand every day!  LOL!  Lisa  :-]

Anonymous said...

Very nice and don't save the good stuff for company:-)
                    *** Coy ***

Anonymous said...

aww, lovely.  I wish I had stuff from my grandmother, they divided some stuff up between my aunt and uncles. but the rest was sold in a yard sale, bummed me out.  some stuff just plain got "lost"...it was sort of ugly. I wasn't around at the time, was living in another state.  cherish your china, love the idea about taking pictures of them for a keepsake for the future.
the future just doesn't get thought of enough.....

Anonymous said...

The china is really lovely, made all the more special because it belonged to your grandmother.  :)

Anonymous said...

Your china is very pretty. My husband sent me a twelve place setting from Japan in the 50's with orchids on them. I have divided them into two sets so each of my daughters can have half. My oldest didn't want me to split them but what else could I have done to be fair? At that time my husband said it almost cost more to send them home then the set cost over there. Paula

Anonymous said...

intact (in tack) you mean?  Couldn't resist, sorry.

You should use these every day.  It means that you live life fully, and not on a shelf.  More people should do this instead of preserving artifacts that some future child or in-law will appraise and sell - perhaps even at a garage sale - horrors!  

Things cherished are thing used.

Anonymous said...

Very cool! I love my everyday dishes...and since I have so few place settings of my wedding china, it's just on display in my great-grandmother-in-law's hutch. I wonder if replacements.com BUYS as well as SELLS. Hmm.

Anonymous said...

My mother did that with our cast iron frying pan and pots..she bought them when she married my dad and has since passed them on to me. I have plans on passing them  to my kids...it's so special when  you pass things like that to keep a part of family history.

Anonymous said...

Just beautiful, what a treasure. judi

Anonymous said...

Your dishes are lovely and are invaluable. I replaced some of my grandmother's broken china through Replacements also. They are wonderful and have so much. On very special occasions it gives me great joy to use them as it did her. Enjoy them! Nelle

Anonymous said...

Great on the dishes.  I actually live not far from Replacements.  It is an enormous place and you can get any piece of most any china set ever made.  Incredible place.  They are pet friendly too, if you can believe that in a store with fine china!