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Sunday, May 17, 2015

Mother's Day Heritage Table


I hope you had a great Mother's Day!  I wanted to share with you the Heritage Table I created for my family when we ate together last Sunday. I decided that each family member would have a different piece of china that was from a woman in our family.  I used their now-vintage sterling and silver plate patterns, too.    AND, it was a surprise!!!  That's why I didn't share this idea with you BEFORE Mother's Day.  
Here's the reason I'm posting.....
I hope you might be able to use a few of these ideas to set up a Heritage Table for your family some day.  My family loved the surprise and the conversations we had about our family members were priceless.
Here's my daughter's place--set with china and sterling silver that had belonged to her
 great-grandmothers.  The china (a luncheon set) had been packed away in my Mom's utility room (probably for almost 20 years).  The box said, "Mother's wedding china."
  I'd never seen the china until a few months ago. 
 
My maternal grandmother on her wedding day in June of 1929.

My daughter ate with the sterling silver that 
belonged to my paternal grandmother pictured here. 
I used lovely linen napkins that we used
 at many meals at my great-aunt's home.  
I wrote the name of each relative on a card at each place
 (the top name for the china and the second name for the flatware).
A great-aunt's hand-painted Haviland china.
I used family pictures on the table and the butler's pantry.
I gathered other items and pictures where I served our dessert.
 I tried to include women that I knew very little information about--like I made my sweet sister-in-law's great-grandmother's pound cake recipe.  And, I was able to add
 a blue crocheted piece made by my husband's grandmother. 
I found this lovely sampler that my Mom made in THE ATTIC a few months ago 
(yes, more shameful attic storage).  
She said she made the sampler so she could
 use the frame that had belonged to her grandmother.

While I got dinner ready for the table, 
I served pepper jelly over cream
 cheese with crackers from this piece.
I took my whipped cream to the table in this old mixing bowl.  I wonder how many times my great-aunt, my mom or I made home-made whipped cream at my aunt's
 house in this humble bowl?  This is probably the first time it has ever made it 
to the table where guests-even family- could see it.

In all, items from eleven different ladies
 were on the table and server. 

I hope you'll try a few of my ideas.  You could use these ideas to celebrate Mother's Day, a birthday or even an anniversary.  I'll bet you have a few things around the house you could use along with a few pictures.  You'd be surprised how much joy you'll pass on to others--and in turn, receive yourself.

5 comments:

Revi said...

Marsha, I LOVE LOVE LOVE this idea and all the love and history in it. It also made for a lovely table - and I'd LOVE to hear the conversation around the table and the memories, not to mention tasting the favorite foods! I'm definitely stealing this idea. : )
-Revi

Betsy@My Salvaged Treasures said...

What a wonderful way to celebrate Mother's Day, so full of memories. Thank you for sharing your ideas at Vintage Inspiration Party.

Marsha said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog, Betsy.

Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson said...

Marsha, what a fabulous idea! I love how it was a history lesson right along with a wonderful meal. My kids would love this and I will be doing it for sure! Thanks for sharing such cherished memories with SYC. I will be featuring you this week.
hugs,
Jann

Tea in the Library said...

What a fabulous idea. What a wonderful tribute. What a wonderful way to encourage stories to be told and memories to be passed down. Thank you for sharing. If was interesting to see your family photos.Beautiful ancestors too! You have certainly inspired me. Visiting from SYC