I enjoyed your meditation. You are fortunate to have had a family that was unsullied by the consumerism of the post world war 2 culture. TO place value on permanence is a lost art. I study history and some of the most fascinating things I have read are the wills from the 18th and 19th centuries. Almost all of them never mention money, but they do mention things like tables, and pots and pans. ITems that today would get a chuckle from most Americans. Who would want Great Aunt Fanny’s saucepan? But things made in an earlier generation were crafted not factory made and more importantly were designed to last giving a sense of permanence that is absent from things we accumulate today. Anyhow, I think your Christmas present from your Mom was lovely and of far significance than any electronic toy could ever be.
I have my grandmother’s cast iron cookware. They made the cast iron stuff better back then. When you find cast iron in a store nowdays, it is heavy and crudely cast. My cast iron pieces are formed very thin and very very smooth. The crap I see in stores nowdays would be impossible to lift a soft fried egg off it without damaging it or spilling the runny parts.
What I would really really like to have is some solid copper kettles.