Saving it for company

My parents grew up in the depression era and were savers. As I've learned over the years the saving my parents did was due to hard times during the depression that they went through. So I grew up with saving things for "good" or when company came. My parents did a lot of entertaining, from holidays to birthdays,  card parties and a weekly visit with cousins as each others house, there was always entertaining going on.

My mom loved to entertain. She had several sets of good dishes, which ranged from her wedding china to at least two other sets of china and later in life Christmas dishes which was something my mom always wanted. Mom and dad got each of use kids the same set of Christmas dishes as gifts for the holidays. My mom always considered having made it when they could afford the holiday dishes.

So I am reminded of my mom weekly, if not daily around my own home. I have several of her saved for company bathroom towels that I now use daily or weekly. They are pretty, but now being put to good use and are a happy reminder of my mom and growing up. Mom would never burn candles except for on those special occasions when they entertained. I vividly remember a holiday, I'm not sure which one, that I lit a set of good candles and for a brief moment my mom was a bit taken aback but smiled and made a comment along the lines that we just as well use them-a rare occasion (I was such a rebel!). My mom would put out towels on the towel racks that were only for show and never used (until they ended up in my house). And there were the towels that were only used by company. The towels we used were sometimes very ragged, towels that were wearing thin, but they still did the job, we didn't care or notice-we just used it until it wore out and had served it's purpose. I don't have company towels at my house, we use all the towels in the closet or on the self.

I have an every day set of dishes that are used every day. And I have a set of china that has hardly been used over the last 10+ years. They were a must on the insistence of my mother in-law when I got married and I received china pieces for many birthday and Christmas presents after my wedding day. Those dishes are nice, I like them. But they are too much work to use. No one really notices what you eat off of as long as it is clean and we've taken to using disposal dishes and flatware since my mother in-law has passed away. Life is too short to spend so much time doing dishes and worrying about breaking something. And someday they will be passed on to who ever wants them hardly used.

So today as I put out a new hand towel in my bathroom I was again reminded of my mom. It was one of her company towels I hung up, it gets used weekly now. I remember how proud she was of how nice her house looked when my parents entertained. But as I am now using her towels I'm reminded that every day is special and using the good towels, burning the candles or maybe breaking out the good china is okay to do any day of the week for absolutely no reason. Why save it for someone else to use? Times have changed and today we live in a disposable world where if people get tired of something they get rid of it regardless if it is still usable and in good condition.

If you come to my house to visit you won't get "good" towels, you'll get the towels that we use everyday. The candles have been burned and all I can guarantee is whatever you are eating off of is it will be clean regardless if it is china, everyday dishes or paper plates, it just has to serve the purpose! I don't want someone else using what I saved. Life is meant to be lived and used up. Use up what you've been given and make the most of it.