Red Letter Days

Mr. B has a family friend who's creative, loving and very thoughtful.  She's the kind of person who made B his own ornament every year for Christmas when he was younger.  She's the kind of person who calls to ask what your wedding colors are so she can coordinate the gift wrap of your gift with the decor at the reception.  Yeah, that kind of person.

And when it came to giving us a wedding gift, she pulled out her creative, loving and thoughtful attributes and went to town.  She made us a "Red Letter Day Box".  

Inside the box was one place setting of red Fiestaware, a red wine glass and champagne flute, red streamers, sliverware, confetti.  The whole nine red yards.

I'd never heard of Red Letter Days, but Michelle spelled it out for us in her letter, here's a snippet:

"Every now and then in life, each of us deserves a place of honor for a Red Letter Day.  Enclosed in this box are items to help celebrate those meaningful occasions...These dishes will make many appearances throughout the years.  They can be used to celebrate a milestone in either of your careers or to cheer the other on when tackling a new challenge....They can make their appearance on someone's birthday, or even when  someone special comes to visit.  Of course, when the time comes, these dishes will also be used to celebrate your children.  When one of them earns a special grade or achieves a hard earned goal, out they will come...Our hope is that by using these special dishes that these types of noteworthy events, which will be many over the years, will be remembered and treasured even more..."

But here's the sad part: We've been married for almost a year and never used them, despite plenty of events to celebrate, days to cheer for as they come to an end, and appreciation to show.  So I decided it was time to make this tradition a part of our lives. 

Apparently we like to match our plates on Red Letter Days.

Mr. B started graduate school last night.  He's dedicated, passionate about furthering his education and wants to get his MBA started and well on it's way before his company considers cutting tuition assistance we start having kiddos.  So Tuesday morning I put Chicken Chile (his favorite meal) in the CrockPot and set his place with the red dishes.  

And he was touched.  He loved it.  Michelle's hope that we would treasure noteworthy events was fulfilled - what a great gift idea!