The holiday season kicked off last week on Thanksgiving. When Mom was still alive, this was one of the precious few times during the year when she would bring out the good china. Her Noritake pattern, Canton, was manufactured in Japan. My father picked it out while stationed in the South Pacific in the early 1950s. He had it packed in straw in a large wooden crate and shipped to Wisconsin prior to their marriage in 1954. The soft greens and browns of the bamboo-themed pattern, each piece embellished with a thin gold rim, is beautiful. You can not put it in a microwave. I found this out when trying to heat up a piece of pie. Sparks spewed and crackled for just a couple seconds before I was able to hit the Stop button. Luckily my mom wasn’t in the kitchen at the time, or sparks of a very different sort would have been flying because the Noritake china was sacrosanct.
I never had good china until I inherited the Noritake. I really never saw the point of having something that was only brought out a few times a year. In an homage to my mother-in-law who espoused using and enjoying nice things no matter what day of the year, I now use the Noritake when I’m feeling nostalgic, which is on no particular occasion. But because I don’t use it every day, I suppose I still hold it in reverence.
My daughter has my paternal grandmother’s china. Decorated with a dogwood pattern, it is still packed in the box it was stored in at the time it was given to her. She swears that once she and her husband are settled, she will begin to use it. My son and his fiance have just told my sister, Susan, that they are very excited to take our maternal grandmother’s china, which has a light pink rose pattern and a silver rim on each piece. I’ll have to be sure to tell them not to put it in the microwave. Susan is also giving them her own good china, which they will use for everyday, along with some matching glass goblets and pretty fancy flatware. They are thrilled. And I am thrilled that my children didn’t see the need to select their own good china, as keeping these sets in the family makes me very happy.
Heller China
Logue China
Noritake China
Anderson China
Copyright DJ Anderson, 2017
