It is awful that Waterford isn't authentically Irish anymore, but in a way, it's a happy side effect of the economic miracle that Irish workers are paid so well that it's cheaper to employ Slovenians to make crystal.
Actually I like Slovenian crystal. I was in Ljubljana several years ago and it was everything I could do from buying out the country. It's just that it's not the same thing. Not at all.
When I was a lad, some neighbor friends had an elaborate Waterford chandelier hanging above their dining-room table. Days after they began divorce proceedings, the chandelier fell from the ceiling and crashed to the table. An overtaxed swag hook I suppose, but given the timing, I had to wonder whether there was something more to the crystal than mere crystal. I still wonder . . .
If one doesn't believe in that particular tradition but is otherwise forced to comply with it, agreed. But this meant FAMILY, and with certain few exceptions, in a good way.
Ah, I see now; my mistake. I read your first two paragraphs rather differently. A cherished tradition is surely something to be mourned.
For years (starting when I was 10 or so) Mom and I would buy a dated silver bell for Xmas. I continued it after she died for an additional year or three, and then realized it had become a chore and not an enjoyable ritual.
We did something similar with my mother. I called her a ding-dong in front of her grandkids once and she became Grandma Ding-Dong. Every year until her death, my sister and her kids would get her different bell ornaments. After mother's death we gave all those ornaments to my sister, and occasionally, when I see one, I buy her a new one to add to the collection. Though we don't now have the mandatory every year aspect of it all.
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When I was a lad, some neighbor friends had an elaborate Waterford chandelier hanging above their dining-room table. Days after they began divorce proceedings, the chandelier fell from the ceiling and crashed to the table. An overtaxed swag hook I suppose, but given the timing, I had to wonder whether there was something more to the crystal than mere crystal. I still wonder . . .
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For years (starting when I was 10 or so) Mom and I would buy a dated silver bell for Xmas. I continued it after she died for an additional year or three, and then realized it had become a chore and not an enjoyable ritual.
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Don't get me started on Belleek porcelain ware...
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