I’ve never had a full set of dishes or china. When CJ and I got married, we registered for china but only got 1 place setting. To buy the rest would have been way out of our budget and at the time we didn’t have a need so we took the one place setting back and used the money for other necessities. So, for the 5 years we’ve been married, we’ve been using a mish-mash of dishes. Some were CJ’s from his bachelor days (white with gray stripes and polka dots) and some were from my bachelorette days (white with blue and yellow flowers). Neither were really true to our tastes but buying all new dishes just never made it to the top of the list.
The other day my mom called and asked if I wanted their wedding china. My mom has been using my great-grandma’s china all these years and so theirs had been sitting in boxes. I figured, why not? At the time I didn’t put much thought in to how we would use them – or even if we would. But I figured it was another heirloom from my parents so it would be worth it for that.
Little did I know what treasures would await me.
I finally unpacked the boxes today (there were 2). In it was a full (and I mean full) set of china that they got when first married (40 years ago).
This isn’t even all of it. There are matching tea cups and saucers too that I didn’t get out because I know we wouldn’t use those. I couldn’t even believe how much there was. 2 platters? A gravy boat? The cool part is that the pattern on the dishes is very close to what CJ and I had registered for way back when. I guess it was meant to be!
Oh and that cloth you see is a pillow case that my grandma cross-stitched for me many moons ago. Somehow it got left behind when I moved out of my parent’s house years ago so my mom tucked it in with the china for me. That was a lovely surprise!
It’s hard to see there but it has my name sewn in it, along with the flowers.
But wait, there’s more!
I also found a few other dishes from a different china set.
I called my mom and it turns out these are remnants of a set her grandmother had. My mom has the tea cups and saucers that go with it and thought that was all there was. She had forgotten about the additional pieces tucked away. There were 5 plates, that lid pictured above and a couple other small bowls. I get to keep those too and will get half of the cups when my parents die (my sister will get the other half). I’ll probably put them in our china hutch once we haul it up from the basement (any strong guys out there want to volunteer to help us do that?)
On top of that, I also found these in the box:
My mom has no idea where they came from. Probably from either her mom or grandma. As fate would have it, they exactly match the platter I bought on clearance at Target just the other day, which perfectly matches the colors of our dining room!
I love happy accidents!
After unpacking those 2 treasure chests of goodies, I emptied out our dishes cabinet and filled up a box for Goodwill of the mixed up stuff we had. The china was washed and put in the cupboards for every day use. I decided to do that, instead of keeping them stored away, because I want to appreciate them every day. What good does it do to have china if it doesn’t get used? Besides this gives us a full set of matching dishes, which makes me feel really grown up!
Isn’t it pretty?
(The multi-colored bowls are for Isabella or when we need something that isn’t breakable.)
I’m so excited for all my great finds today. I love that not only do we have a full matching set of dishes now but that they are heirlooms from my parents. I also love the pieces I found of my great-grandmas and the mystery blue cream and sugar jars. Such an unexpected treat for a Saturday!
If you liked this, you might also like:
Team Trader Mom 