Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This comes up as an example in so many threads and I don't get it. I got my MIL's wedding china and I am beyond thrilled. It is a beautiful service in a classic, tasteful pattern. I use it for all the big holidays. I also got silver and some crystal. We have a sort of butler's pantry area in our kitchen with light-up glass front cabinets and I love to display the glasses. DH and I never did a wedding registry and my family is poor so nothing to hand down. Explain to me why you don't want it.

Because I don't live in a McMansion like you do, and have nowhere to store it. Are you really that clueless??

I don't live in a Mcmansion. I live in a house built in the 70s and has the original footprint.

We have inherited silver and china. We use it several times a year. It's really not difficult to use it or quickly wash it up afterwards. I like having it. It's a nice connection to the past. The world is always divided between people who appreciate family keepsakes, connections to the past, maintaining tradition and history, and those who simply don't care and want to do their own thing. Each to its own.

We have Royal Copenhagen and plate silverware from my mother's family (my grandmother) and Waterford crystal from my father's, with some Belleek thrown in. I wouldn't have not taken it -- it's like having my grandparents and parents (all now passed) with us for the holidays. When I have the courage to use my great-grandmother's vase (she passed in the 1930s) we use it as a centerpiece. I hope some of this is sinking in to my own teenagers so it all doesn't end up on some 2040 version of eBay.

I have my grandmother's china, which is a "frou frou" floral pattern (as one pp called it), that is not something I would pick out myself, but I love using it for Thanksgiving and such. It doesn't really take up that much space (it's in padded china storage in a chest in my dining room).

Well, my mom is still using hers. Which I think was her grandma's. I'm sure it will come to me whenever mom is gone, and I suppose I'll accept it but I'm not excited about it. It's a very frou-frou floral pattern that is not my taste.

I already have enough dishes to suit my needs, and the pattern isn't to my taste. Why do I need a better reason than that?

1. We don’t have any family heirlooms, and my grandma’s few valuables are from the 1960s/1970s at the earliest. Almost everyone immigrated from impoverished Eastern Europe a couple generations ago. 2. I prefer durable, useful stuff.

Anonymous wrote:Because as the child of immigrants, I don't have any to inherit. And because my DH's parents favor his sister over us, so we'll never inherit any of their antiques.

This. I would have loved to have my family's china, which was passed down through many generations, but it was not to be. Eventually, I managed to get a set in a similar pattern, which I use for special occasions - just pulled it out for Thanksgiving. If one of my kids wants it eventually, great. If not, I got a lot if use out of it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This comes up as an example in so many threads and I don't get it. I got my MIL's wedding china and I am beyond thrilled. It is a beautiful service in a classic, tasteful pattern. I use it for all the big holidays. I also got silver and some crystal. We have a sort of butler's pantry area in our kitchen with light-up glass front cabinets and I love to display the glasses. DH and I never did a wedding registry and my family is poor so nothing to hand down. Explain to me why you don't want it.

Because I don't live in a McMansion like you do, and have nowhere to store it. Are you really that clueless??

I live in a small DC rowhouse and have space to store my china, silver and crystal.

Because as the child of immigrants, I don't have any to inherit. And because my DH's parents favor his sister over us, so we'll never inherit any of their antiques.

Anonymous wrote:It’s not something I would use so it would just become something I have to store

This.

Anonymous wrote:This comes up as an example in so many threads and I don't get it. I got my MIL's wedding china and I am beyond thrilled. It is a beautiful service in a classic, tasteful pattern. I use it for all the big holidays. I also got silver and some crystal. We have a sort of butler's pantry area in our kitchen with light-up glass front cabinets and I love to display the glasses. DH and I never did a wedding registry and my family is poor so nothing to hand down. Explain to me why you don't want it.

Because I don't live in a McMansion like you do, and have nowhere to store it. Are you really that clueless??

Anonymous wrote:Id love it but I'd have to fight my dozens of cousins for it. My grandma has beautiful China that my grandpa brought back from Asia when he wasn't fighting the Korean War. I want it so badly, but alas it's my dads mom and I'm sure his sisters will get everything. Seems that material possessions only go to girls in families.

I hope you tell your grandma every time she puts it how beautiful you think it is. Maybe the others will be like all the other pp’s who don’t want it, and you’ll get lucky.

Id love it but I'd have to fight my dozens of cousins for it. My grandma has beautiful China that my grandpa brought back from Asia when he wasn't fighting the Korean War. I want it so badly, but alas it's my dads mom and I'm sure his sisters will get everything. Seems that material possessions only go to girls in families.

My family didn't have anything to hand down. But when we were cleaning out my Grandma's apartment, I found a mismatched set of dime store china, or maybe it was the pieces they used to give away at banks if you made enough deposits. I kept them and display them on the wall in my dining room.