Maybe it’s my grey hair coming in, or the fact that I’m feeling sad our grandparents are long gone, or that my 22nd wedding anniversary is near, but I want to make a case for fine china. When I married in 2001, fine china was not on the radar for my husband and me. We didn’t put any on our wedding registry. As the last two decades have passed, I noticed how rare it became to see it on anyone’s registry. Bye-gone is the era of dining with fine china.
As the time pendulum swings towards living in the era of simplicity and anti-clutter, I want to live and age like fine china. Let’s bring it back!
I fully embrace all that comes with clearing clutter; I hate managing the menagerie of stuff. Why have fine china around to collect dust? Why add to the hodgepodge of the household? I think there is something to be said for living as our grandparents and great-grandparents did. Let’s bring back multigenerational family Sunday meals. Let’s gather around for dinner together at a nicely set dining room table and talk to each other. Make it special and have meaning even if it’s not a holiday or special occasion.
Go old school with no internet or phones, and have good face-to-face conversations with people. The social media world makes it easy to connect with faraway family and friends, I love that it does, but it also makes close family and friends feel distant.
The last few years have made me realize the world we see online is far from how people behave and talk in the real world. Many folks feel the same way, but what do we do about it? We bring out the fine china!
This doesn’t mean you must spend your hard-earned money on a brand new set of fine china. No, no, no. I’ve been collecting pieces from Goodwill. If you have small children, a cheap fine china plate from a thrift store won’t make you cringe if something happens to it. Thrift store shelves are littered with beautiful sets. I hate matching sets (said with a laugh). My life is anything from organized and put together, even if my social media makes it look that way from afar. I buy mismatched pieces and don’t care if they don’t go well together. There is beauty in how different each piece is, just like us.
All come together, with all your different styles and varying political standpoints, with a spectrum of ages and stages and colors of all kinds. Join hands and pray (if that’s your thing) or express gratitude together, share stories and jokes, and create memories. We are not all so different, and I think it is important for our kids to learn that concept now.
Do you have fine china? Do you use it?
Here are some dinner ideas to have and a resource on caring for fine china.
