Use your grandma’s tea cups

Do you have a collection of fine china hidden away in a cupboard or in a box in the basement collecting dust? Are you waiting for that special day to break it all out but are not sure when that day is coming?

Back in the day…
I never understood growing up why we could never step foot in the living room unless company was coming over. Or why we saved using the crystal stemware we got from Birks and the Royal Doulton China for special occasions like Christmas or Thanksgiving.

For the better part of the year, our living room and dining room would remain in pristine shape looking as if it had freshly been vacuumed with the lines of the vacuum cleaner head still imprinted on the carpet. And God forbid if anyone of us went in there and made any footprints! I remember thinking this was a bit unusual but hey, adults had all sorts of rules and notions that I couldn’t begin to figure out so why sweat it. I had bigger fish to fry like going outside to build a fort or play hide and seek with the neighbourhood kids until my Mom called me home for supper.

What to do with “the stuff”
A few years ago, my siblings and I downsized my Mom from a 4 bedroom house to an apartment style condo. Those were probably the most productive10 days in my entire life! In my Mom’s generation, success was all about owning your home and filling up every nook and cranny with valuable trinkets and things. I remember my Mom getting frequent offerings from the Bradford Exchange for figurines, plates, coins and various keepsakes of which she often took them up on.

Obviously my Mom couldn’t take it all with her, so my brother and sisters came over and we determined which items each of us wanted out of all the beautiful things she had collected over a lifetime.

My sisters and I split up my Mom’s tea cups that she had received from various relatives including her Mom. When I came home, I vowed that they were not going to be put away in a china cabinet to collect dust, which by the way, isn’t even possible because I don’t own a china cabinet and don’t even have a dining room to put it in! What I did decide though, was that I was going to USE them.

Appreciate the good things in life!
Life has changed a lot since growing up and it’s time to change along with it.

When I have girlfriends over or if I’m coaching a client, I bring out the china tea cups on my red tray and we enjoy the whole experience; the warm tea, the beautiful cups and the connection with one another. It brings me so much joy to see how special everyone feels, including me, drinking from my lovely tea cups!

What are we waiting for? Each and every moment is special if we decide to make it that way.

Life is short; use your Grandma’s tea cups!