Thirteen Wedding Gifts I Still Use-- After 25 Years!

Writing last Thursday about our 25th anniversary trip got me to thinking about our wedding all those years ago, and then reminiscing about the gifts we received, and then wondering how many things I am still using now were our wedding gifts. First I started looking around the house, trying to remember where and when I got things. But I found my memory wasn't as crisp as I thought, so I decided to get out the wedding book and read my gift list.

Boy, did we get tons of kitchen stuff. My kitchen was stocked to overflowing with more brand-new gadgets than we could use, while Hubby's shop had one set of vise-grips and a sabre saw. Admittedly, we had a lot of fun frequenting estate auctions to remedy that; but even now when we find ourselves needing to buy a wedding gift we try to get something that's not for the kitchen.

So here's what I found that we still actually use. I find it hard to believe that this stuff is all 25 years old! Is it antique already? Or just vintage?

1. Two bath towels, smaller now. (They're Hubby's, and he won't give them up.)

2. A decorative plate that says "silver anniversary" in German. Yes, really. I had it stored away till last October, when I got it out and said, "We made it to the plate!" I considered that plate to be quite a vote of confidence. Apparently one person was sure we'd still be married in twenty-five years.

3. At least one cookie sheet; I'm not sure how many that I now have are still from our wedding gifts. Someone at that time noised it abroad that I wanted to do a lot of baking when we married, so I got lots of bread pans and cookie sheets.

4. A cross-stitched plaque with our names and the date of our wedding on it. I guess I'm not "using" it, but it's put away in a safe place.

5. A kitchen scale. (really? I've had that thing that long?)

6. A large stainless steel bowl. (Wow, I didn't realize that bowl was that old, either) And a whole set of smaller nested ones.

7. Two down pillows, filled with down plucked from hand-raised fowl. (ducks? geese? we can't remember.)

8. A set of Tupperware canisters, showing their age. Actually, these were from my bridal shower, but I think it counts pretty much the same. It was a Tupperware shower, and I think I got one of everything in the Tupperware catalog. Actually, quite a few of those things have survived, but I use the canisters several times a day.

9. An electric griddle. Also from a bridal shower. It's still usable, in spite of its broken foot.

10. A set of steak knives. I use these now more than I did back then since we never used to eat meat any more expensive upscale than hamburger.

11. One drinking glass, out of a set of six. Too bad-- they were pretty, with a snowflake design. Plus, most of a different set of glassware, but I try not to remember they were a wedding gift, because the friends who gave them to us are divorced now.

12. A hand-painted ceramic snack set: 6 coffee cups, six dessert bowls, and six snack plates (the kind with an indentation for the bowl.) They're all still here because they are too nice to use....

And finally,

13. The love of my husband. As we were looking through the wedding book, LovelyDaughter saw a picture of Hubby and me posing after the wedding. We were standing face to face, holding hands, but I had turned my head to smile at the camera, while Hubby was still smiling at me. LovelyDaughter said, "Dad still looks at you just like that! All the time!"

So many of our gifts did not stand the test of time, so I'm amazed how many I still have. In another twenty-five years most of the things on this list will have expired-- except for one, and I'll let you guess which one.