Saturday, February 8, 2014

Getting Out The Pretties…

I went to a tea party last night.  I haven’t been to a tea party in AGES.  It was great fun! It was to welcome a darling girl from the Ukraine to her new family here in the states.  A bunch of us brought our beloved teacup sets and all had a lovely tea party together.  The young lady was even given her own teacup and saucer to start her collection.

I have a collection of nearly 40 teacup sets. Both of my grandmothers had “teacup showers” when they got married, so when they passed away my sisters and I inherited their teacup sets. Two of my sisters didn’t want theirs, so I took their share too.  I LOVE these teacups.  They are so beautiful.  In cleaning up after this party, I even found my grandma’s initials written on tape on the bottom of one of the cups we didn’t use.  I thought that was so cool!

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Here are a few of the sets that I inherited…

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When I got home from the tea party, I was SO sad to put these all away again.  I have started storing them in a beautiful teacart that we inherited from Andy’s Grandma, but there is a cupboard on it and no windows for display. I really want to be able to see them.  So I decided to display three teacup sets at a time on top of the teacart.  Only two of these current sets belonged to my Grandmothers. The pink set closest to the camera came from the hospital gift shop where my dad had his heart valve replaced.  It is the only one I have purchased myself. The cup and saucer are both in the shape of a heart, and when you pour your tea it is heart shaped also.  I saw it in the window and HAD to have it.  I bought a lighter pink version for a friend who is very dear to my heart. Get it?

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Closer shot of the pink heart set and inside the cup…so pretty!

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When it came time to put the teacups away today, I decided to make a change.  I moved all of the Christmas dishes out of my china cabinet, and into the cupboard on the tea cart that used to hold the teacup sets. I only use them one season out of the year, and don’t really need to display them.  Now all of my teacup sets (besides the three on top of the tea cart) are on the bottom shelf of my china cabinet, and I can see them EVERY time I walk by.  With the Christmas dishes moved to the tea cart, I also had room to spread out my wedding china collection. As I was doing that I realized that I just don’t use my china enough.

When I was young and we were attending a bridal shower, my favorite thing was to look at the bride’s registry and see what china pattern she had picked out.  I even picked out a pattern when I was in my late teens for my “hope chest.” I didn’t end up getting married until my late twenties, so the original pattern I had picked out was discontinued.  It was fine, because the pattern I ended up picking is SO much more beautiful, and is named after a place that is very dear to my heart. I thought that was much more fitting. I couldn’t wait to register for china, and was SO SURPRISED when I got every piece I registered for, and then some.  I ended up returning several place settings and still ended up with 13! It was crazy.  I got the lovely tea/coffee pot and several serving dishes in my pattern as well.

As I said I just don’t use my china enough.  I’ve decided to change that. Once a month I’m going to cook a special meal, and I’m going to serve it with a nice tablecloth, candles, and my good china.  I think it will make some beautiful memories for the kids, and will make Morgan want to have some china of her own someday. I hope so….

The top shelf of my china cabinet (matches the tea cart and was also inherited from Andy’s Grandma) hold my good crystal goblets,  the coffee/tea pot and my china tea cups…Our German wedding cup is also there. Isn’t the pattern so pretty? It’s called “Ontario.” I love the shape of the teacups as well.

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The middle shelf holds all of my plates, serving dishes, cream/sugar dishes, salt/pepper, and two gravy boats I received…

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And now the bottom shelf holds all of my beloved teacup sets. I just can’t stop walking by and looking at them.  I can’t wait to have some friends over for tea sometime. Smile I only had to stack a few cups, otherwise they were all able to fit on one level.  The plates are all stacked at the other end of the shelf. 

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I am so excited about this change today! I don’t know about you, but every time I rearrange like this, I feel like I have something new.  I found a few things I don’t need/want anymore, and that will all be going out in the next purge. So it was a good change in many ways….the main way being I can see my teacup collection any time I walk into my living room now. Smile The second way is that I’ve remembered how much my china means to me and I want to use it more.  I’ll post pictures the first time we have a fancy dinner!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Your heirloom sets are absolutely stunning as is the beautiful heart one you bought. This post was so precious! Hugs! Cass