My China

When I was 12 years old, my nana died of breast cancer. She was a remarkable woman full of the kind of wisdom and love that only a nana can seem to have. I was young when she died and while I do have some memories of her, I don't have as many as I would like. The one thing that I always think of when I think of my nana, though, is how much she loved me. The love she had for all of her grandchildren just radiated out of her whenever she was around. She was the most wonderful grandmother I could have ever asked for. 

When she died, my nana left me her entire set of Royal Copenhagen china. Equally as wise as my nana, my mother packed each piece of the set carefully away, and put it in what we call The Way Back. She was saving the entire set for that special coming of age moment- my wedding. She knew I wasn't old enough to understand what it meant to have this set, and I am glad she waited until now to give it to me. It means so much more, and I am in love with the entire collection.

Lately I have started registering through Macy's for my wedding. I was really struggling with whether or not to register for china. It doesn't seem like many women my age do anymore, but I wanted a set to be able to have big family holiday dinners someday. When I mentioned this to my mom, she told me about the china my nana had left. I vaguely remembered it from Nana's house. I knew it was blue and white and well used, and I knew that a lot of the pieces had actually come from Denmark when my Uncle Pat was stationed there with my Aunt Doris (my nana's sister).

So we began the task of unpacking The Way Back. The Way Back is a space that my parents built in their house under their staircase. The home came with a closet under the tallest part of the stairs, but they wanted to use the space under all of the stairs. When they moved in, they broke through the wall and extended the closet to go all the way under the stairs. This extra space is what we call The Way back and it is dark and hot and stuffy. This is where my nana's china has rested for the last ten years. 

It was quite a task getting to the china. We had to move absolutely everything out of both the space under the stairs and The Way Back. Some of the tubs weigh over 50lbs and by the time we got to that tiny, stuffy place it was hot. Here is a time lapse video of how much we had to move to get to the china:

When we finally got the boxes out, three in total, I couldn't wait to see it. When I took that first piece out, I couldn't help but start to cry. I wish my nana was here to see how much I love every single piece of china. It is so beautiful, so delicate, and so unique. It's just perfect. Of course, my mom was there to capture that first moment:

                                     

I have never seen a more complete set of china. It has absolutely everything with it! I feel like I could have William and Kate over for dinner and not be left wanting for anything in my set! And, Royal Copenhagen is still in business and selling my collection, so if I do need to replace some pieces, I can! I am a lucky lucky girl to have always been surrounded by people who love me so much. My cup runneth over!