I’m having Thanksgiving at my house. We always have Thanksgiving here. It’s SuperGuy’s fault. He got my family addicted to his fried turkeys. The downside? I no longer rotate Thanksgiving between my sister, my mom, and our house.
This year I decided to make it even more stressful…My mom gave me my grandmother’s china. 
Why is that stressful, you may ask? Because it’s all boxed up and needs to be washed. Notice the headline on the newspaper. When is the last time you saw a Watergate headline??
Oh, when I said it needed to be washed? I meant hand washed. It is handpainted Noritake china. From what I can research, it was made somewhere between 1914 and 1940. (does my blog show the extra space between the one and the nine on your browser?? I can’t figure out why it’s doing that…) Anyway, I’m going to the library to do some more checking into it. My grandmother had twelve place settings. And when I say place settings I mean:
Dinner Plates, salad plates, dessert plates, small bowls, coffee cups, saucers, more bowls, covered serving bowl, serving bowl, creamer, sugar, platter…oh, heck, I’m sure I’m forgetting some of it. That’s a whole lot of hand washing going on…
The pattern is really pretty, and very antique-y and I love and adore it. (If you just happen to know this Noritake pattern, you could speak up now. The mark on the back is green, with the M (not the newer N that Noritake used in later years. It says handpainted and Japan under the wreath.)
Anyway, the best thing about this? My mother is taking MY china. You remember my china. The china I mentioned that I don’t like anymore?
Anyway, it will look fantastic in her dining room. It’s Noritake too.
But I have to box up all of my china. Wash the new china…and pull off Thanksgiving for everyone…
This is what my dining room looks like right now with my grandmother’s china unboxed, my china waiting to be boxed up…oh, and all the stuff that was in my garden window dumped onto my dining room table. Save me… 
Usually by the weekend before Thanksgiving I have the house cleaned. Pies made. Dining room all clean and set up and ready to go. Tell me I’m going to pull it off this year. That we’ll actually be able to have Thanksgiving in this room.
Did I mention I have a painter here this week too? Traipsing around doing doors and stairways??
Tell me it will all turn out. You can even lie to me if you want! Why do I do things like this…
It will be really, really cool to have Thanksgiving off of my grandmother’s china though. If I have it all hand washed by then…
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Thank you sweetie. I’ll clean the whole house tonight or tomorrow. And I’m off on Wednesday!! Life is good.
Okay–all together now: GAH Now don’t you feel better? Love your new china!
And by “cleaning the whole house” SuperGuy means run the vacuum downstairs…
But I DO appreciate the help!
I’d say you’re totally “living in the moment.” The china patterns are beautiful—both of them! WORDS OF WISDOM: Use your china; don’t wait…
The “new” china is gorgeous!!!
I also inherited a pre-war set of Noritake, although not quite as much as you are getting! Mine has a black band. Try Replacements.com and search the Noritake patterns…that’s how I found out the name of mine, although I can’t think of it at the moment! I feel your pain with the handwashing….that’s why I don’t use it much!
I’m here to give you some words of encouragement. As one of the few remaining Americans that do not have a dishwasher, I know it can be done. First, have a nice strong cup of coffee. If you approach the job as a game, like wash all tea cups then all saucers, soup bowls, etc, the chore will be done before you know it. Oh and the china is beautiful, worth the work.
If I don’t have a complete breakdown by Thanksgiving it will be a miracle! Of course, it’s at our home…always…no rotation here either. And we have a traditional, smoked (someone volunteered to do that this year, so nice!!), and deep fried one every year. 30 people.
Your new china is just beautiful!
I know it will all come together. All of it. And nobody will know how stressful it was, because you are you.
Have a glorious Thanksgiving feast with your loved ones, Kacey.
Hi Kacey, I came across your post on Noritake china while researching mine (actually I’m borrowing your picture of the china for a blogpost I’m doing
). I also have my great-grandmother’s china, Noritake, no pattern number and it looks a whole lot like yours. Mine is packed away awaiting a proper display cabinet, but I’ve come to many dead ends trying to find out more about the pattern and it’s worth (for insurance purposes). Have you made any headway? PS, I hope both 2009′s and 2010′s Thanksgiving were wonderful!
Kacey:
I was surprised to see your china pattern. I’m looking at one that is I believe is the same one you showed. Have you had any luck in finding out what it is?
Thanks Ed
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