Seasonal decorations

[fred_mouse]

6th January is our traditional date for packing up the seasonal decorations. This year, I sorted through the boxes of items that hadn't been put out, and made the kids comment on the value of keeping them.

• The stash of pine cones went - this hasn't been used except when I've been in charge of putting out decorations. That was half a (medium sized) box worth of space!
• almost all of the 'artwork' that came home from school/kindy/daycare/etc went in the bin. I kept a few that had photos on, but there was a lot of plastic tat
• several items in poor condition with no sentimental value* went.

Now, all of the decorations fit into two boxes! Mostly what went on display were the items I've been buying each year at the Oxfam shop (pretty, and they usually have items that can be identified as Solstice, rather than specifically for religious ceremonies). Many that didn't go on display came from my childhood, and while tatty, you can't get decorations like that any more. My guess is that when the kids leave home, we'll do a split of the decorations, and then I'll have to decide whether I want to keep those for the nostalgia, or whether they are too tatty, and throw them out.  

[there has also been quite a lot of movement of Stuff! from other parts of the house. The 16 yo and the 12 yo have both managed to come up with a washing basket full of unloved toys and bits; the 16 yo has also managed about the same volume of outgrown clothes. The front hall now has a teetering mound of Stuff! to go elsewhere, although I've had some luck with passing it on to visiting friends]

* there are a number of quite tatty ones I can't bring myself to throw out -- these are the type that were thread wrapped around a ball, and they went fuzzy quite easily. I also can't bring myself to throw out the tinsel, even though I hate it and it mostly doesn't get put out. That is for No Good Reason at All. Maybe next year. 

Comments

[kalloway]

these are the type that were thread wrapped around a ball, and they went fuzzy quite easily

I think my folks have a whole box of these. I'll probably pitch them after my folks are gone, but until then...

If they're the sort I'm thinking of, I've never figured out a decent way to fix them, either.

I got rid of a container of my grandmother's old xmas stuff last year and it felt good. The really lovely stuff got kept and the ugly/tacky stuff got donated (and hopefully scooped up by someone who likes tacky vintage).

[fred_mouse]

Isn't it a great feeling to get rid of the bits that aren't quite right! I'm guessing that a few years into the future, I'll have another pass through, and get rid of more of the tatty ones, as you did with your grandmother's pieces, because I'll be a few years more relaxed about letting go of things from my childhood -- that has been the pattern so far, that I'll notice that something isn't good, and then at some point later I'll be able to make that choice. And although I'm in my 40s, and my kids are still teens, I'm starting to be quite paranoid about not having time to get everything sorted, and leaving them with crap that needs doing that I should have had time to sort out first!

[kalloway]

Yeah, there's a progressive 'am I really that attached to this?' that seems to kick in and after a couple of rounds, I realize that I'm more attached to the memories than the actual item and letting go of the item doesn't mean I don't get to keep the memories.

I'm not a big holiday decorator to begin with, so most stuff doesn't get put out any given year anyway. I think that's making it easier to let go, too. (That and looking at things with a more critical eye - the Halloween lightup from childhood actually looks pretty awful thirty years later, do I really need to keep dragging it out and putting it away?)

[fred_mouse]

I, too, am much better at throwing things out at the third, fourth, or fifth pass than I am at the first. Like tasting something new, the first time is all about the reaction, not the thinking. And we only do the one set of decorating, with items going up on the Solstice and coming down on the 6th Jan, so I only have this lot to think about. My guess is that when my kids are grown up, it will be a thing that I don't do. The only one of the three that is keen is youngest, so it may well be that they will take most of the decorations with them when they move out (here's hoping!)

[kalloway]

Yeah, I expect in a few years I'll be down to a lone 12" ceramic light-up tree or something and that will be okay. There's just the process of untangling emotions and memories from the actual items.

Like tasting something new, the first time is all about the reaction, not the thinking.

That's a really good way of expressing it and I'm going to remember it going forward with my own decluttering. Thank you.

[fred_mouse]

A single light up ceramic tree would be a wondrous thing, although in our case I think it is wooden.