The darn good china

Royal Albert - Old Country Roses - sigh.

I just finished packing away all the "good china" from Christmas dinner. I'm emotionally trapped by this dinnerware. I inherited my grandmother's set of Royal Albert. I would not have ever chosen this china for several reasons - not the least of which being that it has to be hand washed. I'm trapped because I can never get rid of it. My mother would kill me. So I have to keep it and if I keep it, we might as well use it. I mean just one of the tea-cups costs $80, not including the saucer! So what's the point of having it sit in a box in the basement untouched? But I hate using it, because hand washing after Christmas dinner is a pain. Really there is beautiful high-quality dinner ware out that can go in the dishwasher and with a pattern that would be more "me". But I can't ever buy something like that because what would I do with all this damn Royal Albert?! I can't get rid of it. It was my grandmother's. Trapped.