The Neverending Saga Of Grandma’s China
I think everybody's Grandma had a few pieces of china dinnerware that you were not allowed to breathe on, let alone use.
My mother's side of the family always had a low key obsession with Blue Willow China. It's been pretty popular for hundreds of years, really. It actually started in the late 1700's and got super popular towards the end of the 1800's. There's a little story that goes along with it, too.
Apparently there was a very wealthy man, who had a very pretty daughter. She fell in love with his accountant. Her father felt like the accountant was below her, and arranged to have her married to a duke. He fired the accountant and took him to a shed where he had big fence installed to keep them apart. They arranged the wedding between the daughter and the duke. On the night before the wedding, the accountant snuck into the house, stole the Duke's jewels, and ran off with his love on the Duke's boat. Of course everyone was furious and set off to try to find them. They were eventually found on a distant island, and the Duke's army sentenced them to death. The gods, however, took pity on the couple, and in the last moment, turned them into doves for an easy escape and life together.
Yeah, I know the "Story" of the china, but... I don't know the story of the china, you know? I think it was my maternal grandmother's, but did she inherit it from her mother? Who bought it? When did they get it? I don't know, it has always just been locked away in a china cabinet, away from our grubby kid hands.
Then, recently, I got some different "Grandma China" from my father's side of the family. These were my Great Grandmother's, my Dad's Grandma.
It's a much simpler pattern, very classy. I have no idea, again, where it came from other than my dad's grandma. I don't know when it was bought, who had it first, what the pattern is called, nothing.
It's SO pretty. And the actual china is very.... precious to the touch. I don't know if that makes sense. But I do know that I'm doing the same thing my grandmas and great grandmas did. It's in a safe place, far away from anything close to daily usage. What is the deal with that? Why don't we think we're worth of the good china? It's so strange. Maybe someday I'll have a fancy party and bring out the good stuff.
Or maybe I'll just keep it safe in storage and look at it every blue moon.
Do you have some of grandma's china in a cabinet or storage somewhere? Do you know the story behind it?
Chinaingly yours,
Behka