Bringing out the Wedgwood China

When The Hubby and I married a jillion years ago, we registered for--and received--fine bone china from Wedgwood.

It was gorgeous--black-and white mythological creatures. Thin gold bands:

It's called "Florentine," and it was wickedly expensive. "You better enjoy what you have," my dad joked, "because nobody's ever going to buy you another piece of that stuff!"

We received service for 8, plus two little "fruit bowls" and a few serving pieces:

We loved the silky feel of the china, and the fantastical beasts romping around the edges:

The china reminded us of sword-and-sorcery books, which we both like to read. And of "Dungeons & Dragons," which The Hubby played a lot in college:

Besides being expensive, it has to be hand-washed, so it was always a pain to use it. Once kids entered our lives, it was also a very bad idea to have fine china around. We ate off unbreakable plastic (them) and inexpensive pottery ware (us). This beautiful stuff lingered in the back of a closet, year after year:

Recently, I decided it was time to pull it out. The children have places of their own. So there's only two of us for dinner, meaning there's only two plates to hand-wash. And when our adult kids come to visit, they're capable of carefully handling good china without smashing it to bits--they even jump in to wash dishes without being asked!

So I shuffled some things in the pantry around and made room for the Wedgwood. Now I can use it every day:

It's important to me to make room for a little beauty in the everyday. Even if that means sharing space with the jarred pasta sauce and the chips.