You make an excellent point. My mother never ever used the good china. My sister inherited it upon my mother's death and I don't recall that she ever used it either. I have the china my mother bought from a Speigel catalog that became the good china of her marriage to my father. I got those pieces. They have been used for every celebration we ever had in the family I built. My daughter uses her wedding china every time her kids want a 'special dinner' - several times a month. My mother's death taught me not to love things. We love people = we use things. Even the delicate and 'special' things. <3