We put the Christmas tree up this weekend. As I do every year, I scratch my head at how many Christmas ornaments I have. I have enough to decorate at least 3 full size trees. When you add the indoor and outdoor lights, various Christmas linens, stockings, and other Christmas décor, we have a massive collection of plastic totes filled with stuff. There are some things we cannot part with like the nativity scene and the nutcracker collection that has occupied the mantle every Christmas for years. There is a ton of other stuff that we have kept out of a sense of obligation. I’m tired of dragging all this stuff out only to put out half of it. I am pulling everything out of the closet and then either using it or getting rid of it. There will be none of this “we might use that next year” business.
My daughter is a bit of a hoarder at this point in her life. I think she sensed that I was planning on getting rid of ornaments. She responded by putting as many ornaments on the tree as possible. I finally had to ask her to step away from the tree otherwise it was going to fall over from the weight of her efforts.
After she wandered away to play, I managed to identify 77 items for purging - 7 Hallmark ornaments destined for ebay, 30 lovely glass ornaments that I no longer use with an often clumsy 5-year old in the house and 40 hideous plastic ornaments from my “Blue Christmas” phase a few years ago. The ornaments that don’t get a chance for a new life on ebay will be donated as soon as possible. I’m sure there are people who can use them now rather than in January. By the end of the week, we will complete the decorating and evaluate what we are not using and make some hard decisions on what to keep. I hope to free up at least one plastic tote from our holiday décor.
