Why don't you want the family china?

[Anonymous]

I have my grandmother's China. I wouldn't have wanted it if it was ugly. Fortunately she had excellent taste!

[Anonymous]

1. We wouldn't use it. We use the same dishes year round including holidays.

2. Parents/In-laws have different tastes. So dh and I prefer to choose our own.

3. We have enough stuff. Don't need/want anymore.

[Anonymous]

1. I'm not sentimental
2. I live in a tiny apartment and already have dishes
3. It's not my taste

[Anonymous]

It's an ugly pattern. I love Spode, but my mother has a hideous oriental motif pattern on hers and frankly, I don't want it.

[Anonymous]

Muffy is thrilled with Pee-Paw's china

0_o

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Muffy is thrilled with Pee-Paw's china

0_o

Careful, I think you should watch it. I read "Muffy's" add-on post and clearly she can take you down without even blinking an eye. And aren't you the delightful one, btw!?! Meow much?

[Anonymous]

I have my own set which I still love but rarely is used because I have a adult child with SN who has always been hard on breakable items. I have a classic sterling 8 piece place setting from my mother which actually matched my favorite wedding flower so I added to it to make 12. I hope to get a few items from my parents’ travels in the military but I have three siblings and plenty of possessions of my own. I may get something from my MIL but it does seem that the blood relatives get dibs on their family heirlooms so not expecting anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is funny that you are posting about this because our conversation around the dinner table on Thanksgiving Day was about the china, crystal and silver. We talked about the heritage of the items and the stories we associate with them.

I read an article a few years ago in WaPo that said that people are turning away from the old stuff. For some reason our family is different. My sister and mother and I are in the midst of scouring E-bay, Replacements, estate sales and every other place we can think of to add to our sets so that as our families get bigger with weddings and babies and such that we can handle the population explosion. Our children are also asking about specific sets (Nana's china, Great-Grandma's china, PeePaw's crystal). So we are also working under the philosophy that we want sets of 12-14 of everything to pass along. It is a pretty tall order.

As we were setting up on Thursday, I asked the kids what they thought about using all of this "old fashioned" stuff. One of the teen boys said that it was "stunning" and the rest of the kids agreed. I think they were right. The table looked absolutely stunning with 100 year-old crystal and china and silver. And it pleased us all that we had such a wonderful connection with those relatives who have gone before us.

Anyway, we look at it as our effort at reuse and renew. I think my grandparents and great-grandparents would be thrilled! Sorry if I'm offering a different take than the title but I did want to chime in with the perspective of our family, which as per usual seems to be going against the current.

Well, our family was volunteering in a 3rd world country building houses for the needed while your monster family in your home drains the resources on this planet. But keep throwing away money on China and silver. And your use or “reuse and renew” makes me ill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My mother has this sort of mentality. She keeps, and expects me and my brother to keep, all these 'family' things. For years, I did. Until, I realized that I had no room for the stuff I liked because I was keeping everyone else's stuff. I was on track to having a house just like my mothers - filled with stuff that had belonged to someone else, many of whom I never knew, but very little that reflected me or my tastes. My half sister (different mothers) gave me the courage to start getting rid of it. I took a picture of the item and sent it to relatives, giving them first right of refusal. If no one wanted it, I got rid of it.

My mother is appalled and would sometimes take what I'm ready to get rid of. She claims I'm getting rid of my kids' heritage. I think of it as allowing my kids the freedom to develop their own tastes and not be burdened by items belonging that hold no feeling/memories for them. I've kept a couple of larger pieces and still have a lot of small pieces - like the cowbell from the old family farm. We take it to all the games! Now THAT is a great family item! It not only has a nice story, we have our own memories of it.

Bless you for not burdening your kids with this stuff. I struggle to turn down all the stuff my mother buys/saves. I don't even dislike all of it, but it's so much and such a mishmash and imbued with more "meaning" than it really warrants.

[Anonymous]

I have my own china and crystal which I love but we only use it a few times a year. I get it out for special occasions or if we have an adult only dinner or brunch. I also have christmas "china" that I got at target and love more than anything! We use that every day from Thanksgiving to New Years. I'm an only child so I will inherit all of my mom's things. Her china is nice and will actually complement mine but I dislike her crystal and will not keep it. I don't think she even likes her crystal very much anymore. My Mom also inherited my great aunt's china which I do not like and won't feel bad about getting rid of. I've never known my Mom to use it but my parents have a big basement full of junk they never use. Space is a real issue with most families these day. Most people just don't have the space for something they don't use or use once a year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is funny that you are posting about this because our conversation around the dinner table on Thanksgiving Day was about the china, crystal and silver. We talked about the heritage of the items and the stories we associate with them.

I read an article a few years ago in WaPo that said that people are turning away from the old stuff. For some reason our family is different. My sister and mother and I are in the midst of scouring E-bay, Replacements, estate sales and every other place we can think of to add to our sets so that as our families get bigger with weddings and babies and such that we can handle the population explosion. Our children are also asking about specific sets (Nana's china, Great-Grandma's china, PeePaw's crystal). So we are also working under the philosophy that we want sets of 12-14 of everything to pass along. It is a pretty tall order.

As we were setting up on Thursday, I asked the kids what they thought about using all of this "old fashioned" stuff. One of the teen boys said that it was "stunning" and the rest of the kids agreed. I think they were right. The table looked absolutely stunning with 100 year-old crystal and china and silver. And it pleased us all that we had such a wonderful connection with those relatives who have gone before us.

Anyway, we look at it as our effort at reuse and renew. I think my grandparents and great-grandparents would be thrilled! Sorry if I'm offering a different take than the title but I did want to chime in with the perspective of our family, which as per usual seems to be going against the current.

Well, our family was volunteering in a 3rd world country building houses for the needed while your monster family in your home drains the resources on this planet. But keep throwing away money on China and silver. And your use or “reuse and renew” makes me ill.

Be sure to rinse out your mouth after!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My mother has this sort of mentality. She keeps, and expects me and my brother to keep, all these 'family' things. For years, I did. Until, I realized that I had no room for the stuff I liked because I was keeping everyone else's stuff. I was on track to having a house just like my mothers - filled with stuff that had belonged to someone else, many of whom I never knew, but very little that reflected me or my tastes. My half sister (different mothers) gave me the courage to start getting rid of it. I took a picture of the item and sent it to relatives, giving them first right of refusal. If no one wanted it, I got rid of it.

My mother is appalled and would sometimes take what I'm ready to get rid of. She claims I'm getting rid of my kids' heritage. I think of it as allowing my kids the freedom to develop their own tastes and not be burdened by items belonging that hold no feeling/memories for them. I've kept a couple of larger pieces and still have a lot of small pieces - like the cowbell from the old family farm. We take it to all the games! Now THAT is a great family item! It not only has a nice story, we have our own memories of it.

Bless you for not burdening your kids with this stuff. I struggle to turn down all the stuff my mother buys/saves. I don't even dislike all of it, but it's so much and such a mishmash and imbued with more "meaning" than it really warrants.

+1 I also like that you're giving your children and other relatives choices. It sounds nice!

[Anonymous]

I think that everybody is different. I am a minimalist and don't have the space anyway (or I don't want to make the space).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Well, our family was volunteering in a 3rd world country building houses for the needed while your monster family in your home drains the resources on this planet. But keep throwing away money on China and silver. And your use or “reuse and renew” makes me ill.

I hope you and your family had a nice trip back from your 3rd world country. I sure hope you feel good about the good that you did and I am sorry that you are ill. Best wishes to you in the future from me and my "monster" family. Btw if you read my follow-up post then you would realize that people in my family have met monsters before. Your intolerance and intemperance reminds me of those experiences. Think about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is funny that you are posting about this because our conversation around the dinner table on Thanksgiving Day was about the china, crystal and silver. We talked about the heritage of the items and the stories we associate with them.

I read an article a few years ago in WaPo that said that people are turning away from the old stuff. For some reason our family is different. My sister and mother and I are in the midst of scouring E-bay, Replacements, estate sales and every other place we can think of to add to our sets so that as our families get bigger with weddings and babies and such that we can handle the population explosion. Our children are also asking about specific sets (Nana's china, Great-Grandma's china, PeePaw's crystal). So we are also working under the philosophy that we want sets of 12-14 of everything to pass along. It is a pretty tall order.

As we were setting up on Thursday, I asked the kids what they thought about using all of this "old fashioned" stuff. One of the teen boys said that it was "stunning" and the rest of the kids agreed. I think they were right. The table looked absolutely stunning with 100 year-old crystal and china and silver. And it pleased us all that we had such a wonderful connection with those relatives who have gone before us.

Anyway, we look at it as our effort at reuse and renew. I think my grandparents and great-grandparents would be thrilled! Sorry if I'm offering a different take than the title but I did want to chime in with the perspective of our family, which as per usual seems to be going against the current.

Well, our family was volunteering in a 3rd world country building houses for the needed while your monster family in your home drains the resources on this planet. But keep throwing away money on China and silver. And your use or “reuse and renew” makes me ill.

Did you swim to said country? Or did you fly, using massive amounts of fuel?

Do you live in a yurt, or a nice, heated home? Are you on an iPhone or similar right now, you massive hypocrite?

-NP