Teapots, Doilies, and Cedar Chests

I collect teacups and I have a few teapots. I decided to take a picture of one of my favorite teapots sitting on one of the doilies that I crocheted awhile back. I just started a new doily in an ecru/light beige color. I'll post a picture of it when I've finished.

In about the middle of April, one of my coworkers, Tisa, is going to meet a Japanese pen pal, Hiroko, after 40 years. They started writing to each other while they were still in high school and kept in touch after getting married, having children, and grandchildren. There was a period of about 20 years when they stopped writing each other, and one day a postman delivered a postcard from Hiroko to Tisa, who had moved to a new address since they last communicated. The postman knew Tisa and delivered it to her at her new address. She was so excited and they resumed communicating and have been emailing ever since. Hiroko had written in almost all of her letters that it would be great if they could meet one day. Now it turns out that Hiroko and her husband are coming to America in mid-April and are going to be staying with Tisa and her husband for a week. Tisa is really excited and I thought I would crochet a doily for her and her friend, Hiroko. So, this new one that I just started will be one of the gifts.

Tisa said that she had kept all of Hiroko's letters, over 100 of them, in a little cedar box that she had had since high school. She said that when she graduated, the Lane company gave these little cedar chests to girls who were graduating as a kind of hope chest. That must have stopped when she graduated in the late 1960's because we both graduated from the same high school and the girls in my class (1972) didn't get anything like that. I was just curious what they looked like, so I looked a few up on ebay and did an image search and this is what I found.


I have to say that I would love to have one of these boxes. I've been pricing them on ebay and I might bid on one soon. I don't know yet what I would put in it, but it would make a great box for just about anything that would be kept as a keepsake. Thinking about it, it's probably more nostalgia than anything else. In hindsight, wishing that I had had a pen pal, wishing that I had received one of these chests when I graduated. I love reading old letters, and cards. In fact, I think I have just about every single card that anyone has ever given me for birthdays, graduating, etc. I think it's just a wonderful piece of history, and a great nolstagic trip down memory lane. Maybe I should think about organizing them. Right now they are all in one of those large Rubbermaid containers.