“I’ve made a salt and pepper pair for every wedding in this family since 1994. I won’t see well enough to make the next one.” — Why a 71-year-old potter from Vermont is letting her last Christmas salt and pepper shakers go at a special price, before her studio closes for good.

On the windowsill of Corinne Haverty’s workshop stand two salt and pepper shakers that once cost less than a dollar. A little reindeer and a little Christmas tree. One of them has a chip on the bottom. Nobody in the family is allowed to touch them.

Corinne is 71. She lives in Woodstock, Vermont, and works in the old sugarhouse behind her farmhouse, where her husband’s family once boiled maple syrup. For 32 years she has made Christmas salt and pepper shakers there. Always in pairs. Never one alone.

“Salt and pepper. One doesn’t go anywhere without the other. That’s the whole idea.”

The pair her mother would not let anyone split up

The shakers on the windowsill belonged to her parents. They got them as a wedding gift in 1951 — a cheap little set from Woolworth’s. For 42 Christmases, they sat in the middle of the family table.

When Corinne’s father died in 1993, the children sat down to divide up the kitchen things. Someone suggested each sister take one shaker, as a keepsake. Her mother picked up both of them and put them back on the table.

“She said, ‘You don’t split up a pair.’ That was the end of the discussion.”

The next summer, Corinne’s niece got married. Corinne had taken a pottery class a few years before. She went into the sugarhouse and made her very first pair: a white reindeer for the salt, a striped Christmas tree for the pepper. Around the tree, she painted little white stitches — the same stitches her mother had sewn into every Christmas quilt she ever made.

Fourteen weddings, fourteen pairs

From then on, it became a family rule. Every couple who got married in the family received a pair of Corinne’s Christmas shakers. Her niece. Her two sons. Nephews, cousins, grandchildren. Fourteen weddings so far. Fourteen pairs.

Word got around Woodstock. In 1995 the church on the town green asked if she would bring some to the Christmas bazaar, always the Saturday after Thanksgiving. She brought 40 pairs. They were gone before noon.

She has been back every year since. 31 bazaars. About 2,600 pairs. Some families have bought one every year for three generations.

Sixty tiny stitches on every tree

Her workshop smells faintly of maple when the kiln is warm. The shelves are full of shakers, and they always stand in pairs. Corinne leans over a tree with a fine brush and doesn’t look up.

“Sixty stitches on every tree. Miss one, and your eye finds the gap all through Christmas dinner.”

One pair takes her about four hours. She shapes both shakers, lets them dry, presses on the little reindeer and the tree by hand, paints every stitch, and fires them twice in the kiln. That is why she has never made more than about a hundred pairs in a winter.

What 32 years taught her about a salt shaker

People who order a pair usually say the same thing first: “They’re even sweeter in your hand.” Corinne just nods. She has thought about every detail for a long time.

• “The Pair Rule”: The white reindeer is always the salt. The striped tree is always the pepper. “Nobody at the table ever mixes them up,” Corinne says. “Not even by candlelight.”
• “The Raised-Stitch Relief”: The reindeer and the tree are raised, not printed. You can feel them with your thumb. “A printed reindeer fades after a few years of washing. This one will still be there when your grandkids set the table.”
• “The Palm Size”: Each shaker is just over 3 inches tall. It fits next to every plate and sits well in any hand, even a small one. “At Christmas, the salt goes around the table twenty times. It should be easy to hold.”
• “The Twice-Fired Glaze”: Every shaker is glazed all the way around and fired twice. A damp cloth is all it takes to wipe it clean after dinner.

The month the stitches ran together

What Corinne will miss most are the quiet mornings in the sugarhouse. The snow outside. The warm kiln. Opening the door after a firing and seeing the first row of little reindeer looking back at her.

Last year her eyes began to fail. The doctor called it macular degeneration. Corinne calls it “the fog.” It will not get better. Her hands still know how to shape a shaker. But the sixty little stitches on every tree need sharp eyes.

“Last month I painted a tree, and the stitches ran into each other like a zipper. That’s when I knew.”

This fall she fired the kiln for the last time. There is no one to take over. 168 pairs are left on her shelves. In January, the kiln will be sold. One more pair is set aside in a box with a name on it: her granddaughter Tessa gets married next June.

“Nothing on a Christmas table gets passed more than the salt”

For 31 years, Corinne sold every pair at the bazaar for $12. All of the money went to the town’s heating fund, to help neighbors through the Vermont winter.

For her last 168 pairs, she could ask three times as much. Everyone would understand. She won’t.

“Nothing on a Christmas table gets passed more often than the salt. I wanted the thing everybody touches to be the prettiest thing there.”

She doesn’t want her shakers in a glass cabinet. She wants them on real tables this December, going from hand to hand, the way her parents’ pair did for 42 years.

Corinne doesn’t use a computer. But every year, summer visitors from Connecticut and New Jersey called, asking if they could still get a pair. So her granddaughter Tessa, a teacher in Burlington, set up the page where you can order now. She takes the photos at the kitchen table and packs every box. Corinne’s husband Gordon cuts the tissue paper.

“Tessa does the computer. I do the clay. Gordon does the tissue paper and complains about it.”

What families say about Corinne’s shakers

• ★★★★★

  “Smaller than I pictured, and that’s exactly what makes them so charming. You can feel the little stitches on the tree. They sit right in the middle of our table now.”

  Nancy R., Concord, NH
• ★★★★★

  “My parents had a reindeer set just like this when I was a girl. When I unpacked these, I called my sister right away. We both ordered a second pair for our kids.”

  Sharon B., Albany, NY
• ★★★★★

  “Bought a pair for my grandson and his new wife’s first Christmas. I wrote Corinne’s story on the card. They loved it more than anything else under the tree.”

  Diane W., Worcester, MA

Three questions people ask before ordering

Where can I buy Corinne’s shakers?

Only through this page. Corinne’s Christmas salt and pepper shakers are not sold on Amazon, Temu or in any store.

How long will they be available?

Only while supplies last. The kiln has been fired for the last time, and there are 168 pairs left. Once they are gone, there will be no more.

What if they’re not right for me?

You have 30 days to try them at home. If you are not happy, just send a short email and you will get your money back. No questions, no hassle.

More from people who set the table with them

• ★★★★★

  “Good solid ceramic, nicely glazed. The holes are just right, the salt doesn’t pour out all at once. Arrived wrapped in tissue paper, not a scratch.”

  Karen P., Portland, ME
• ★★★★★

  “I ordered one pair for us and two for the grandkids. Now everyone has the same reindeer on the table at Christmas, even though we live in three different states.”

  Joyce M., Hartford, CT
• ★★★★★

  “My husband says they’re too cute to use. We use them anyway, every single day in December. That’s what Corinne would want.”

  Barbara L., Allentown, PA