Treat Yourself: Use Your Pretties

There are cabinets and drawers in my home filled with pretty things - from candlestick holders to crystal wine glasses with fine China, Depression glass, and linens in-between. Do I use them when company comes? Of course. 

Do they sit and gather dust the rest of the time? I try not to allow it. No matter if it's just the four-legged girls, a teddy bear, and myself  - - we bring out the good china, the good crystal wine glasses, a few pieces of silver, and the pretty tea cups and saucers. Even my four-legged companions sip their water out of a rather large antique crystal bowl. 

If you aren't using your pretties almost daily, then who are you saving these treasures for? Are you saving these pretties for your estate sale so some stranger can enjoy these things, and they can occasionally and accidentally break them? So your children will be able to enjoy these things instead of you? Or perhaps your family members will toss the item in one of those cabinets above the refrigerator that no one bothers to get to? 

So you may break a few special pieces, but sometimes with a little luck a piece can be replaced, and if not - - you will still have the memory, but most important the day, the experience, and those who you spent the occasion with or just the time alone experiencing a special moment - even if it is outside by yourself in your rose garden. 

Consider this suggestion as an affordable yet "simple trimming for an elegant life™... "