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Many years ago, my grandmother surprised me with a special gift. As I tore off the crisp wrapping and saw the square brown box, I was uncertain what I’d find. I opened the box, parted the delicate tissue paper, and found myself looking at an elegant porcelain plate. As I touched the smooth, glossy face and turned it over in my hands, I wasn’t sure what my reaction should be.

The plate had an intricate, sky blue drawing of a church in a winter landscape. While I was still trying to formulate the appropriate response to this church plate, my grandmother sat down next to me and asked me, “Do you know what this is?” I could only stammer out the obvious answer, “It’s a plate. It’s beautiful…”

She smiled and turned the plate over again and pointed out the script on the plate-the year of my birth. She grasped my hand and said, “I couldn’t be with your mother when you were born but I bought this plate to commemorate your place in our family. I have one for each of my children and grandchildren. Now that you’re older, I want you to have it. Maybe you can start your own tradition with it.”

Now that I am a mother myself, I know how special it is to have special pictures and mementos to remember events such as birth, anniversaries, weddings, and other traditions. I was so pleased to find out that my own church was starting a commemorative plates collection for members. Though the idea is to help raise funds for Vacation Bible School time, the custom printed, porcelain plates are going to be a great addition to my collection of keepsakes.

I also found out that we’re going to be able to personalize them, an extra special touch that I may invest in for my grandmother. She bestowed church plates on her children and grandchildren, but wouldn’t it be even more special to gift her with personalized plates from our own parish? In short order, she could have a varied and beautiful collection of commemorative plates to replace her original collection. The more I think about it, the more I like the potential for this family tradition that my grandmother was wise enough to start so many decades ago.