[preciousjeni]

Y'all -- In my family home back in Georgia, we have a cabinet displaying my great-great-great-grandmother's china (top shelf), my great-great-grandmother's china (2nd shelf), my great-grandmother's china (3rd shelf) and my grandmother's china (bottom shelf). Starting from the bottom, the higher you go on the shelves, the fewer pieces there are because of the ravages of time. This past Christmas, I heard the story again about all the patterns and I cried at how blessed I am to have these pieces of my family's history.

Those women are all on my father's side, but my mom became extremely close to my grandmother and was "adopted" into that heritage.

You know what's amazing (and I don't think it was planned)? Every single set is white with gold trim - but all are a little different.

I haven't decided on my pattern (it's a really tough choice!) but I will be following in the steps of my ancestors.

As far as silver...I STILL haven't decided after all these years!! Silver says so much about a person and I want to make sure mine tells my story.