Love in the China Cupboard

An old photograph of the kitchen table

I suppose I should have written this post before Christmas, still, better late than never. 

The two 1970's dressers which are in the photograph hold lots of china, so does the pantry which is through the door between them.      I often think that I should send the lot to charity, enjoy the empty space, the uncluttered shelves.

However, Christmas is the time of year when I am glad that I haven't given into that particular temptation.    Cooking a celebratory meal for the family is enjoyable-ish, but dressing the table is enormous fun, especially when I start looking in those china cupboards, for they are filled with lovely  memories of people I loved, meals we shared, the celebrations and gatherings.

I always dress the table with a vast piece of sumptuous dark red and old gold curtain fabric - a bargain find in 'Boyes',  many years ago.     I've tried a plain white cloth, but that looks too starchy and formal for my hotchpotch collection of china and bits and pieces...pieces which link my life as a child with my life as a mother and grandma, along with everything between.

Throw on some brass candlesticks, a few pieces of silver, my late mother's dark red and gold china - bought by her, sixty years ago, when we lived in Hong Kong), plus quirky, individual pieces which make me smile, special glassware, whip up a dollop of magic, then serve the delicious (naturally!!) food to the fabulous family and away we go!

How about you - do you go for immaculate presentation, everything perfectly aligned and matched, or are you a messy and sentimental person?   As ever, no right, no wrong. 

Oh, no photograph of the finished table, because I was far too busy to even think about using a camera, instead there is this photo - fairy lights right around the perimeter of the kitchen and homemade 'snowflakes' hung from the kitchen beam, there are fresh holly sprigs on many of the paintings and lots of holly and greenery on the mantelpiece at the other end of the room.   No tree, with a very waggily-tailed Toby, plus two cats who like to shimmy up trees...

February 14th, 1946 and a Love Letter

I was recently sorting through (yet another) biscuit tin filled with old photographs, passports, and papers which had belonged to my late aunt and uncle.    The papers ended up with me when they died, as they had no offspring of their own.   

Folded small among the papers was this large and very handsome certificate, which I am tempted to have framed.

It states that on February 14th, 1946 my late uncle, then aged 21 and serving in the Navy, on a Tank Landing Ship, crossed the equator.

I hope the ceremony was fun and that the penalties were not too unpleasant, although I have read that sometimes the ceremonial dunking and trials could be rather cruel, all disguised with laughter and ceremony.          I wish we had known to ask him about it.

He was a lovely quiet and very modest man who never spoke of the years he spent at sea during the war.

His wife, on the other hand, who served in the WRAF, definitely won the war single-handedly!! 
They were chalk and cheese.   

He was four years her junior, a 'toy boy', as she sometimes joked. 

While looking through their papers, I found a letter. 

A love letter from him to her.   It was very simple, very moving, especially as he really did not like writing, although he loved crossword puzzles and quizzes.       His education had been cut short as he had to leave school at the age of 14, to support his mother and two sisters, when his father died.   He was a true grafter all of his life.     

The letter is very beautiful and would have made a perfect post for today, but I know he wouldn't have liked that.    For the moment it remains safely tucked away in a biscuit tin.    There is nothing shocking about the letter, it is all very sweet, but it does reveal how in love he was. 

I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day.