A Long Winter's Nap...Maybe

Okay....here goes! I have been wanting to start a blog ever since I read a former classmate's blog. I have really enjoyed reading hers so much each week.

Well, the holidays are over, the decorations are down and put away, and the goodies almost gone, so guess all that's left to do now is settle in for a long winter's nap! Well, maybe......

Every year after the holidays, I always get in high gear and start deep cleaning and sorting stuff. I work so hard to get everything neat and orderly for the new year. A few years ago I came to a realization. Why does one save everything? I save everything from old cards to newspaper clippings to soda can snap tops. A few years ago I gave my children, now grown, their precious school papers that I had saved over the years, and also their annual school pictures. But I still have way too much stuff to sort once again! It's time to pass some more stuff on to my children. I know they will be absolutely thrilled to receive more "stuff" from Mom! They already have their own collections of "stuff."

My mother passed away on March 1, 2004. I sold her home and went back to PA in June that year to empty her house. That is a very heart-wrenching thing to face. Everything she had saved over the years, that had meant so much to her, I had to decide how to dispose of it all. Most of it meant nothing to me, but to her it was important, important enough for her to save. A couple things that really touched me that I found were a little pocket off my son's corduroy pants when he was about 3 years old and locks of each of their hair that she had saved in her cedar chest. That's where all her important things went. She also had saved school papers they had given to her over the years. I found my baby shoes and baby bracelet, also, in her cedar chest.

After thinking back on that week "home," I came to the realization that everything we save is just "stuff." The only person it really means anything to is you. So I have been more objective as to what to keep and what to toss ever since, or have I? Where does all this new "stuff" come from every year??? I have more boxes again this year and full closets. And there are 3 more closets besides the ones pictured below! And I am ashamed to say that they are all full to capacity, also.

I have made up my mind this time, once and for all, that this "stuff" is going to go! Hopefully, by the time Spring arrives, I will be all neat and orderly for another year! Only then will I be able to take that long winter's nap, except it will be Spring by then!