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| The Santa teapot that started it all |
Guilty
Pleasures
Merriam-Webster defines guilty pleasure as “something pleasurable that induces a usually
minor feeling of guilt.” Collectors can certainly identify with this. Most will
tell you that they spend far too much money (as well as time) on their
collections, be they books or dolls or model railroad trains.
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| Fish teapot bought in the Bahamas |
My guilty pleasure is teapots but not just any
teapots. I collect whimsical teapots, ones that come in all sorts of shapes and
sizes.
I never collected anything prior to teapots, and my
collection came about in a rather odd way. About twenty years ago, I was
shopping at Christmastime with a friend. As we wandered around a department
store, I saw an adorable Santa teapot and made a casual comment about how some
day, if I ever had lots of disposable income, I’d like to collect whimsical
teapots. Several weeks later that Santa teapot arrived as a Christmas gift from
my friend.
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| Pincushion teapot |
The wonderful think about collections is that if you
have one, it’s always very easy for friends and relatives to buy gifts for you.
And that was the case after receiving that first teapot. I didn’t set out to
collect teapots; I had very little disposable income at the time, and that
which I had went to more important things—like family vacations.
However, somehow word spread that I was collecting
teapots, and before I knew it, I was receiving whimsical teapots for every
conceivable occasion. I now have a collection of about fifty teapots ranging
from handcrafted miniatures to normal sized ones capable of brewing several
cups of tea. I also have dozens of teapot Christmas ornaments, a couple of
teapot candles, and even a teapot pincushion.
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| Teapot candles |
In the past two decades I’ve bought only two teapots
myself. On a cruise to the Bahamas, I purchased a fish teapot, and while
visiting Disneyland for the first time, I bought a Minnie Mouse teapot. The remainder
of my collection has all been gifts, and the collection keeps growing…and
growing…and growing.
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| Minnie Mouse teapot bought at Disneyland |
The funniest part of all this? I’m a coffee drinker! The
only time I drink tea is when I’m sick. But I do love my teapots, and truthfully,
they don’t really qualify as a guilty
pleasure, just a pleasure, since I spend neither time nor money collecting them.
(Lois Winston is the author behind the Anastasia
Pollack Crafting Mysteries as well as other works of fiction and nonfiction.
She’s also the de facto owner of this blog, but don’t tell Anastasia that!😉)
