A beloved tea set returns home in Christmas story of lost and found

Have you ever given something away, only to later regret it?

Susan Dean has.

In 2018, she and her husband, John, sold their house in Moncton and moved the the village of Alma, around 75 kilometres south of Moncton.

To downsize before their move, Dean parted with many items handed down to her over the years, including her late mother's Christmas tea set.

"I would only use it once a year," she recalled. "So I just got rid of it and gave it to the hospice shop."

Poinsettia, aRoyal Albert collection, was first manufactured in England in the 1970s. It features large red poinsettia flowers against a classic white bone china trimmed with gold.

Dean says her mother purchased the large coffee pot for the set, which she used to servetea during the holidays.

During her downsizing, Dean decided to givethe tea set to Moncton'sBoutique Hospice Shoppe because her mother had beenin hospice care before her death, so donating the set was a way to giveback. She thoughtfamily photos of the set and happy memories of her mother would suffice.

She and her husband moved to Alma during thatsummer, butas her first Christmas in her new home approached, Deanbegan to think about her mother, and she started wishing she had never given the set away.

"Whenever I made a trip into Moncton, I would go to the hospice shop, on the thought that I might actually see the teapot, of which I never did until that very special day."

Months after she had given it away, and days before Christmas, Dean and her husband were heading to a holiday event in Moncton, when they decided to drop into the Boutique Hospice Shoppe.

There, she saw her late mother's Christmas chinaon display. But, determined to stay true to her vowto downsize, she resisted buying it.

"When we came back home, I spent all night thinking about the teapot," Deansays. And the next morning, I phoned the hospice shop and asked them if it was still there."

To her relief, it was.

However, the store clerk mentioned a shopper was currently eyeing the set.

"That is my mother's teapot, I really want to buy it back," Dean said she explained to the clerk, who then offered to set it aside.

The next day, shewent back to the shopand bought the set for $125.Shewanted topay for the set, rather than just haveitreturned to her, to stick to her original motive of giving back.

"When I look at this tea pot or any china, it just reminds me of my mum. She was a very lovely person, kind and wonderful to be with," she said.

It made Christmas of 2018, and every Christmas since, a very special occasion.

The joys of vintagechina

That kind of connection isn't unique.

Donna Cooperloves vintage china so much that it inspired her to launch her business, Elegant Tableware Rentals, in Cape Breton.

Through her collection of vintage dishes, flatware and more than 400 bone china teacups, she provides festive place settings for weddings, baby showers and other celebrations.

"It seems to bring that nostalgic feeling for people because, that china pattern, their grandmother had it or their mother had it, or they inherited it," she says.

While collecting china tableware is not as popular today as it was with past generations,Cooper believes vintage china is making a comeback.

"People lead such busy lives. I think people are looking to slow down a little bit," she says. "If you don't use it and enjoy it, you're not going to have any memories that go along with it. And when children grow up, they'll look back fondly on their mother's china."

Emotional connectionto family heirlooms

And even if family heirlooms are rarely used, they hold more importance than we may realize.

Chris Helland, a sociology professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax, says those kinds of connections can be very strong.

"These type objects really do connect us in a deep and meaningful way to our past, to our traditions, to our families and to our communities and to our own history and identities," he said.

"When those rituals are lost, the question is, what do we have to connect us to that?"

Helland says while the celebration of special events, like holidays, help to anchor our connection to family, so do tangible items like dishware and flatware.

"I think the family dinners with those special objects, I think that's an important part of who we are."

Susan Dean shares that sentiment.

"I think there are some family heirloomsthat we feel very close to. That even if we try to give them away, even when I probably shouldn't have given it away, there's just some connection we have to them."