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Group Writing: Dining Service
My husband and I decided when we first married that we weren’t interested in fancy dinnerware, plates, dishes or a tea service. It just wasn’t our style. We love the china sets that many of our friends have, but we were never tempted to indulge ourselves.
Eventually we decided that there were some basics that we would acquire—wine glasses and specially made pottery items. We didn’t inherit sets from our families, although Jerry’s aunt rescued some items from his mother’s garage sale. (Mom Rosella assumed that when we said we wanted the glassware, we were just humoring her!) So Aunt Esther rescued a few things and we’re so grateful, since they were part of the family history.
Here are a couple of things that represent sets she saved for us:
These glasses are our everyday glasses. (You never know when you might need to break out the champagne!) The wine glass is one of a set of seven. (It was eight, but my husband set his glass down on the concrete patio and our little dog knocked it over many moons ago.)
I bought us this pair of glasses for our anniversary in the late 1980s. We are the only ones who use them, even for red wine. If either of us is having wine without the other, we use a glass out of another set.
And these were a wedding gift, so they are 46 years old.
I had a dear friend whose son was a potter, and we chose from designs he created. Here are some samples.
I envy people who inherit these kinds of items shared through the generations. Neither of our families collected items that would be passed down. So we found our own.
I know many of you have some wonderful sets passed down through your families. Please feel free to share them with us!
I took the photos on my cellphone, so forgive the poor quality and blurriness.
Published in Group Writing
Chinet. Nothing but the best.
I have a set of Oneida silverplate from my grandmother, pattern Strasbourg. It is absolutely gorgeous, a real Art Deco pattern, and I am an Art Deco lover. I will post a picture after work today.
Can’t wait! It sounds just beautiful!! Thanks, @rushbabe49.
Mom has her ‘fine china’, and I have a set of ‘nice dishes’, but both are hidden away and only pulled out for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter when the family comes together.
The really useful stuff is the corelle ware that both mom and I have, it is unbreakable, easy to clean and nice looking. Not elegant, but practical.
I remember when I was a kid my parents had friends over for dinner parties, and that was when they pulled out the silver, china, and crystal. I never threw anything like that, I have made dinner for some friends, but usually BBQ and paper plates! I wonder if formal dinner parties are very common any more?
I broke one of my mother in law’s dinner plates, and she was pretty upset, as her husband had given them to her long ago. So I pulled the trade marks off the back of the plates and went out on Ebay. Sure enough, the exact settings were available, so I replaced the broken plate ( Plus a couple bowls that had been broken over the years) for a very reasonable price. She was so pleased to have everything back in order, and they match perfectly ( although the ones I bought were less worn then the originals).
I bet you could match your missing glass!
Great comments, @phenry! The plates I show here are for special meals. (I haven’t been able to talk my husband into using them for everyday, but I’m working on it. We have occasional dinner parties and they are small, so the pottery plates are the ones we use. I don’t know if people have dinner parties anymore; BBQs are so easy and fun!
We probably could match the glass, but we’ve gotten by with the ones we have. But now I know where to go to replace them if I lose more. Thanks! That was very sweet of you to replace your mom’s broken plate. She raised you right!
One of the things I’ve found when working in the antique store is that youngers prefer dishwashable, microwavable dishes. Anything with gold, anything that needs to be hand-washed will be left on the shelf forever. And, while I think a lot of people have large get-togethers, they are not the sit-down, white tablecloth, good china kind of dinners. They are more of a grab a plate, fill it up, and throw it all in the trash when you are done eating.
We’ve only used our good china a few times and I keep thinking I’d like to pull it out and use it more often.
Fun fact – our Royal Doulton Carlyle china (pictured above) is in the Batman movie with Michael Keaton. You can see it in the scene where Bruce Wayne and Vicki Vale are eating with Albert in the kitchen.
This reminds me that I really ought to unpack the china from our move 7 years ago. In my defense, we have inherited complete sets of dishes and mine is incomplete. Still, I’m grateful that I’m not hosting Thanksgiving this year.
We did not ask for or receive china, crystal, or real silver when we married. But we did buy ourselves a set of Wedgwood china (Palatia pattern) on a trip to England a few years later. Our daughter has told us she has no interest in our china (she was more interested in her grandmother’s china, which she now has), and our son clearly has no interest in such things. So we use our Wedgwood china weekly for our Sunday evening “breakfast for dinner” suppers, and then put it in the dishwasher. No need to avoid using it to preserve it for a future generation.
I think that’s a shame. Grab a plate works fine, sometimes, but the beauty of a genuine sit-down dinner is lovely. Your set looks beautiful. That must have been a kick to see it in a movie, @juliana!
How beautiful, @fullsizetabby.
Starting with very basic, durable daily tableware, I have enjoyed finding even a single interesting piece of glassware. And I still use both my West German ceramic tea pot with tea light warmer and a Henry Watson pottery teapot with cozy, and coffee tankards my sister sent me for Christmas many years ago. I believe they were in England at the time.
This post is part of the November theme, “Service.” There is one late opening, the 30th, first come first seated!
Here’s a selection of the Oneida Strasbourg pattern from 1927. The set for 12 comes with a complete set of serving utensils.
Oh, we also have a collection of individual teacup and saucer pairs. Each teacup/saucer pair matches, but all the pairs are different from one another, but with a similar theme. Then we can have tea with the different tea and saucer sets around the table. Mrs. Tabby picks interesting ones at antique stores.
Lovely, @rushbabe49
What a great opportunity to be creative!
Susan thanks for the sentiments. In a world of 3D printers we risk losing appreciation for things that are finely crafted by the the human hand, brought to life by the human imagination. A finely crafted piece of glassware or ceramic is an object of wonder, made all the more precious as a carrier of tradition and family memories. Eggs and pancakes for supper on Saturday is as important a tradition as Thanksgiving. Cheaper too!
All the more reason to feel a little sad that the kids don’t want the good stuff. We have to hope they come around as their children grow up and go out on their own.
Lovely comment, @williamallen! I do think that families are missing a special time when they don’t share intimate times together. And I like the idea of pancakes! Thanks for sharing.