My family uses the china for any "fancy" dinner we have--Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, birthdays, guests, etc. Sometimes it also serves as our extra "plates"--we bring it out when we have too many people and run out of the everyday stuff. My mom's had her china since 1976 and though some of the pieces have broken, the stuff still looks brand spankin' new. We run ours through the dishwasher without any problems.
On a side note, I also bring out the china to use when we have parties and I am setting out hors d'ouevres because the china makes a better presentation.
