Growing up, dinner was always served on pretty, everyday dishes with stainless steel flatware, sitting in the crowded kitchen…….Easter Sunday, Thanksgiving, Christmas Day – out came the gold rimmed Lenox china, linen tablecloth and napkins, silver flatware, crystal stemware, and into the dining room we go…….Fast forward to 1982:  I am a young woman about to be married, registering for china…..quite costly dishes, flatware, stemware for setting a proper table, for “entertaining guests” in the home……I fell for it.  A china fool.  Along with thousands of other women, then and now, that feel they must register for formal china……..some smart business person out there has made quite a bit of money.

Sure, who doesn’t love beautiful things, but what a foolish tradition this is!  It wasn’t as if we were wealthy and had regular formal dinner parties – I was working regularly to make ends meet while raising two children – the china came out on the holidays and occasional other times when I felt like kicking it up…..And to boot: Ginger taught me to wash all the china only by hand because the dishwasher would “dull the gold trim”.   I obeyed for awhile, but thank goodness I was open minded and listened to my mother-in-law who believed more in making life easy – in the dishwasher they all go – and they have not dulled one bit. Thank you Nannee.

Fast forward again to the present:  now a middle aged woman, working a very demanding job, children are grown……what do my husband and I use on a daily basis?  Our everyday dishes.  What do we look forward to on a regular basis?  Restaurants. What dishes will be using on this year’s Thanksgiving?  Ugh. Hopefully someone else’s!!!

What makes much more sense to me than all this formal china would be a second set of dishes that could be used everyday or on special occasions – still beautiful, still setting a pretty table, but more practical.

These are my everyday dishes – I have always loved the rich colors and the warm New England style….a nice alternative and refreshing change would be a white on white dish, in a shabby chic look….it would work for everyday and also for special occasions…..I could re-do our whole dining room!!!

Replacing all my china and redesigning our dining room is not a priority now…..for family dinners of six or less, I will remind myself to use the china (ugh) and I will not feel guilty when I resort to high quality plastic for some holiday gatherings…..no more ‘China Fool’!

How about you? Do you enjoy having/using formal china? What do you think of the bridal registry? To leave a comment, just click on ‘LEAVE A COMMENT’ under the title of this post. Always love to hear your thoughts……..