Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Keeping memories alive


















My Thanksgiving centerpiece just arrived. I've parked it on a corner of my dining room table until I get better organized. Right now, I'm scurrying to finish the grocery list and decide what kinds of pies (and how many) to make tonight.

White roses are a Thanksgiving and Christmas tradition at our house, and they're always arranged in a shallow bowl that fits inside this antique pressed-glass compote with a gold "crown" rim. Each year when friends and family members admire the flowers, I delight in pointing out their container, which was one of my grandmother's little treasures. No doubt I could find one just like it on eBay for under a hundred bucks, but this piece is priceless to me.

I am blessed with many family heirlooms. I don't believe in packing such things away "for safekeeping," but think they should be used and talked about. I'd hate to think that one day my own grandchildren might unpack my treasures and not know why those things were special to me, so I pull out my prized possessions at every opportunity and tell everyone who will listen where the things came from and why I value them.

One of these days, somebody's bound to drop and break my grandmother's compote. If I'm still around, I'll cry a few bitter tears, but I'll never regret having used the dish. I know the memories I'm sharing with my family right now will last for years and years after the shattered glass has been swept away.

May you and yours have a warm and wonderful Thanksgiving.

10 comments:

Shelley L. MacKenzie said...

Happy Thanksgiving Brenda! The flowers are so beautiful!

Valerie Comer said...

Thanks for sharing, Brenda. I hope your family is blessed this Thanksgiving.

Carolanne said...

Wow! The centrepiece is beautiful!
Hope you had a great Thanksgiving.

Chaser said...

That is STUNNING! Hope the rest of the holiday is just a nice.

Anonymous said...

I love hearing about family treasures. I just inheritated a Singer sewing machine dated back to 1904 from my great-grandmother a few years ago. I keep it out in my living room. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that your compote made it through another year. Do you also use it for Christmas? The flowers are beautiful.

Margo Carmichael said...

Something else--the message. _Lost Shepherd_ is my alltime favorite novel. A romance, it also shows the power of the turned-on, plugged-in, sold-out believer. Wonderful story. It's out of print but you can find it on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Shepherd-Moving-Novel-Spirit/dp/0912106778/sr=1-1/qid=1164473564/ref=sr_1_1/102-2219928-7573707?ie=UTF8&s=books

cantnever said...

Oh, I so love your traditional centerpiece flowers! (I can almost smell them...) Thank you for sharing the photo. How did roses become a tradition for the holidays, may I ask? :o)

Brenda Coulter said...

Thanks, everyone, for the nice greetings. I had a lovely Thanksgiving weekend with my family.

Yes, Jennifer, I'll use the compote again for our Christmas Eve candlelight dinner.

Cantnever, roses have always been my favorite flower. The colors I like best are the palest seashell hues (pinks, peaches, and corals)and creamy whites.

Shirley said...

I love the compote, Brenda, and love that you display it so proudly! I inherited a number of my mother and grandmother's things after my mother died and have all of them out and about in my house. If they break...I figure I have had the memories for all this time. It's the memories, not the things, that I treasure.

Love the blog!!!!!

Shirley

Brenda Coulter said...

Thanks, Shirley. It was good of you to stop by.