For years my mom used her china at all holidays. It's a beautiful set that my Dad bought her when he was stationed in Okinawa. But every piece had to be hand washed and very gently. It's an entire set of like a 24 place setting, all the serving pieces. Just huge, doesn't really fit in the china cabinet.
My sister and I always spent hours washing this stuff. So finally one holiday, Mom was getting us all to tell her what we were bringing. Dsis listed her stuff and added "and I am bringing paper plates and luvsjack is bringing the cups". Mom just looked at her, smiled and said "I was wondering when y'all would get tired to washing all those dishes".
After that the china was used only when there were 8 or less of us gathering or Mom just wanted to take them out for a special guest.