On Saturday we hosted the Carrigan Family Thanksgiving dinner. We generally go to Idaho to spend the holiday with my Mom, so we try to plan a Thanksgiving feast a bit earlier with Dave's parents and sister's family.
A couple of weeks ago we hosted the Stake Presidency and their wives for dinner. In preparation for that dinner I splurged and bought my new dishes. Taipan had a great sale on white dishes so I decided that I have been married long enough that I can have some nice dinner dishes! When I set the table for that dinner my children came in from school amazed at how pretty the table was. Mitch asked if it could look like that all the time!
The following Sunday I asked Emily to set the table for dinner. I had started by sitting the plates out. She asked if we could use the chargers. I agreed. She was so happy to be able to set out the chargers, the goblets and the cloth napkins.
I don't know that I will always want to set such a fancy table but it certainly was lovely for our Thanksgiving dinner. We put out our big table and added two more tables. In all there were thirteen of us. I have felt lately that my children don't ever sit at a table with pretty dishes. They have the fourty year old mismatched Correl that I was given, mismatched glasses and usually a gallon of milk on the table. This isn't necessarily bad. We are so blessed to have these things, however, I feel like everywhere we go we eat on paper plates and drink from plastic dixie cups. Dinner is almost always buffet style, never passed from person to person. I know that it is easier to use these convenience items. I just feel like my kids should feel like there are special occasions. I love that my Mom has almost always used her china for special dinners. I know it is a lot of work because these dishes are old and can't go in the dishwasher. However, I love the tradition that it is. I love that we sat at the table and passed the dinner for most of my life. I want to pass that to my children.
We were missing our Ashley, she will also be missing from Thanksgiving. She has to work early on Friday.
On Saturday I had some extra time while the turkey was cooking(my second turkey!). I decided to get out our Christmas dishes! In the process I wiped down the shelves. They were disgustingly dirty! I have no idea how long it has been since I wiped them, that in and of itself is gross!
These Christmas dishes are starting to show a lot of wear. Between being banged in the sink and banged against each other in the dishwasher they are starting to have chips here and there. I don't care. I want them to be used the entire season, not just for one meal on Christmas day. Little Justin was so excited to see them. Miss Emily pulled out a bowl this morning and said , "I just love these dishes!" These are traditions that I want my children to remember. I want them to know that THEY are worth the GOOD dishes. Not just company!
