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The (Unwanted) Teapot Collection

… and I don’t even like tea

Merlene Paynter
4 min readDec 17, 2024
Midjourney prompt: a table filled with quirky colorful teapots
Image created via AI by author | Midjourney prompt: a table filled with quirky colorful teapots

A lifetime ago, while I was on my honeymoon, I saw a lovely hand-thrown clay teapot with swirls of pinks, mauves, and blues all over it. This was 1989, and the colors of the teapot perfectly matched some dinnerware I’d received as a wedding gift. The teapot was large and beautiful. I thought it would look great in my kitchen on a shelf along with some cookbooks. Little did I know what hell was about to be unleashed in my world.

My mother, always with a nose for gift ideas, decided I must love teapots based on this one random purchase. So, she launched a campaign across both my own family and my in-laws to start a collection of teapots for me. For surely, if I bought one teapot — which was admittedly a splurge for my budget — I must want an entire collection of them. If one is good, fifty are better, right?

Have I mentioned I have never liked tea?

Over the next dozen years or so, I received dozens of teapots. Quirky colors and shaped teapots. A darling table with a chess set on it teapot. A cat teapot that poured tea from its raised paw. An antique sewing machine teapot. An elephant. A fireplace decked out with garland and Christmas stockings over the fire teapot. Blue teapots. Orange teapots. Yellow polka dots. Several licensed Disney character teapots.

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Merlene Paynter
Merlene Paynter

Written by Merlene Paynter

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