I have an awesome sister.

     I also have a pretty awesome collection of mugs.

     Mind you though, I’m not much of a collector. I don’t really have any interest in looking for, keeping, and displaying things. With a few exceptions, like meaningful gifts from friends and some pictures of family, I pretty much expect everything in my life to serve some practical purpose.

I do love efficiency, function, and quality. A favorite saying of mine is, “Function in spite of form.” Meaning I really don’t care what something looks like, the question I ask is, “Does it work?” Now that doesn’t mean that something functional can’t be pretty too, it just means that I place the emphasis on the it in question having a function and that it performs that function in the most efficient way I can imagine.

I’m a writer and I don’t drink coffee—at all (“Not now, not ever!”) and that’s a potentially career ending combination, caffeine being one of the writer’s greatest friends (afraid that I don’t smoke or drink either). I do, however, drink tea, a lot of tea. I’ve been something of obsessed with tea since I was home sick from school at age nine and my mother made me a mug of tea ‘English-style’ (with milk). It’s about that same time that I began to appreciate a good mug.

Mug Basics- it has to be on the larger size, without being so large that the tea can get cold before I finish it (though I will still finish it, making a sour face). Has to be heavy (harder for my ‘Gilligan’ style antics to knock it over), and has to have a finely-shaped, ergonomically designed, large handle that will fit my large, clunky fingers.

And if I think it looks cool, well that’s just a bonus.

So, between my need to snatch up what I think is a great mug, and the generosity of friends and family, I unintentionally have gathered to myself a bountiful and, dare I say, impressive collection of tea mugs.

The Jack Skelington mug at the top of this post is my latest acquisition, it was a gift and is my newest favorite (favorite means that I’ll use it again and again and keep putting off washing it, and that I’ll leave it laying all over the house, and keep loosing it…see, favorite). The big base means it’s a challenge to spill, even for me, the handle is as near to perfect for my hand that I’ve ever found, and the curved shape of the body also lends itself to being grasped pleasantly. And the fact that it’s got a portrait of Jack on it is a big bonus.

See, I told you I have an awesome sister.