White

I love this time of year!  I love the smells and the sparkle and the bustle of it all.  I love the anticipation I see in my kids...okay, in me... and the gift giving process.  I love the shopping and the making and the tons of decorating.  Is this starting to sound a little bit Dr. Seussy?  Sorry!  I have Christmas cards on the brain.   What I really love is the entertaining.  I get all silly and Jennish about setting a pretty table with dishes that make me swoon. 

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I adore all things white.  I have it in every room.  I remember looking at pottery barn catalogs when I was in high school and dreaming about how my home would one day look.  * Little did I know that those prices would keep their simple white furniture out of my home.  That is not the point.  To me the perfect room has a whole lot of white and a little bit of some other color.  I think it's fresh and inviting and clean and so easy to change for the season or for my mood.  I have started to collect white serving ware to help whiten up my kitchen. I paint just about anything I can get my hands on white.  One of these days I'll get pictures up of Sadie's room and our bedroom.  I'm pretty sure I am obsessed!  It's in my Christmas tree and is a big part of all of my quilts.  I love when it snows because it brightens and cleans up a icky looking winter mess.  I can be really fickle when it comes to favorite colors and because it changes so often I like having that white canvas in most of my rooms to do small adjustments to.  Some think that white is boring.  I think it's...to be cheesy...magical!  Among the many white things in my home I have a particular favorite, especially at this time of year.

Enter my prettiest tiny collection of dishes...

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I think I mentioned my china before and how it's become one of my most favorite treasures but I have to just tell you how grateful I am for my mother and her understanding of what china really means to a wife and mother.  I registered for it after my wedding, out of registration regret - not doing it when I should have, and my sweet mom lovingly gets me a little bit of it every birthday, anniversary and at Christmas. My husband thinks it's fairly pointless to put an expensive plate on the table, only to have it covered up with food and then wishing all night long for it to make it safely into a locked cabinet.  I, on the other hand, find it to be comforting and timeless.  It seems like having kids has changed our whole home to plastic and having this one nice breakable adult thing helps me feel grown up when I need to be.  I have so many memories of setting my mom's and even my grandmother's table with their own fine china.  I want that for my Sadie.  I want the moment those dishes make an appearance to signify a special occasion, to sparkle things up a bit, and then one day I want to pass it, or at least the tradition of it, on to my children. 

I believe that giving china as a wedding gift use to be a big tradition and I wonder why it's fizzled out.  Was it a fad?  Did it become a pain to find?  I guess if you are a practical thinking person, like my cute husband,  these types of things just don't really matter.  Thank goodness I am not a very practical person.  I love that they came from my mom.  I love that they are me and that I picked them out to last forever.  I really love that they are white.  I can't wait to bring them out again this Christmas.