{Simple Hospitality, Day 3} White Dishes

 I love beautiful dishware.  And I have a thing for beautifully set tables.

In fact, back before I became a self proclaimed "aspiring minimalist" and still thought that more was more, I had shelves and boxes and cupboards full of lovely thrifted dessert plates and serving platters and four, count them four, cake stands.

You know, for all those times I baked four cakes at once...

And I thought that having all the right stuff would make me a party planner extraordinaire.  Taco's with friends? Cayenne coloured stoneware.  Romantic dinner for hubby and I? teal polka dots of course. Murder Mystery Party for 10? (yes, we actually did that.)  Only silver platters will do. 

I have long given away all but enough simple, flexible, beautiful white dishware for a large dinner party.  When we host a holiday meal, every dish in the house is dirty.  Everything I have goes together nicely, and I never need to spend time thinking about which dishes to use. Setting the table is simple, and always elegant.  And I can still gussy it up to suit any occasion by adding flowers or candles or balloons.

Every item in my kitchen gets used at least 100 times a year.

My shelves are tidier and no longer warping under the weight of unnecessary items.  And I no longer browse pinterest feeling like I have to go out and buy more stuff in order to pull together something beautiful.

Because when we pare down our belongings and become deliberate about simple hospitality, we are not only clearing room on our shelves but also vigorously rejecting the notion that successful hospitality is about having the right stuff.   And there is freedom in that.

Of course, your simplification may look different.  Maybe you'll keep only the colourful Fiestaware, or just enough mismatched vintage china. Or maybe you don't really have enough dishware to serve a crowd and you're realizing that's not as big of a problem as you thought.  The point is that less is more and simple is beautiful and all of the things we hope to get out of authentic hospitality can't be bought at a store.

Somehow keeping our stuff simple helps to keep our hearts focused on what really matters.

This is day 3 in a series about simple hospitality.  Click here to see more.

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