By the end of February, I had a house ready for sale.
The most difficult things to sort through for me were the family pieces, handed down from generation to generation, and all the holiday decorations and dishes, that occupied a room of their own. I purged and gave many pieces to my children. What remained was contained in 2 bins. I saved one small bin for the trailer and one large bin to remain in storage along with the family pieces at my Aunties.
So times and life directions have since changed, and I am now at my Aunties with my Granddaughter. My remaining things are here in bins, my trailer is in storage for winter, awaiting new adventures and I'm feeling a bit like a fish out of water.
After Thanksgiving I helped decorate the church for Christmas so it seemed natural to come home and decorate the house for the holidays.Years ago, I made a tree in a sleigh for my Auntie and Uncle. We redid the decorations with Teddy Bears for this year....With a Teddy Bear Standing Guard.
I brought up my Aunties decorations and we decorated the living room. With Aunties blessing, I decorated the family room with the remaining Christmas decorations I had saved.
Oh how, the sentimental feelings flowed.
Obviously, reducing the amount of things I possess has not my diminished my ability to form sentimental feelings to things. Although I have observed that having some of my things around me has helped me approach Christmas not as it was, nor as it was planned, but in a new way.
It certainly is a mix of old and new.
While I feel somewhat suspended between the life that was and the life I planned, I am busy embracing life each day.
Emmit got his 'collar' off today.... and proceeds to check out the decorations.
There wasn't room for all of the ranch village I had saved but it was good to see this bit of the ole ranch.
The decorations are in place,
The cooking begun,
Now it's time to.....
Do you preserve old traditions or have you found new ways to celebrate the holidays?
I find myself thinking about some of the holiday items that I no longer have. My daughter has some of it in storage, but with her recent move and with a 4 month old, I am not sure if she will decorate much. She has a tree up with lights on it and that's about it. I have a few decorations in the RV, I resist the urge to buy new decorations because I would have to give them away (not much storage space in my small RV). So, I look back fondly on the past then realize I need to make new memories now. It's all ok.
ReplyDeleteWe too had to let go of cherished decorations which was hard. I was surprised to see how much I miss a live tree. I haven't found a small enough live pine and really miss the big shining tree lighting up the room. We have kept all the "non things" traditions
ReplyDeleteI only kept a couple of ornaments and this year bought a tiny tree, put on battery operated lights and little ornaments and flowers. It's all I have room for. It will go in a grocery bag after Christmas and be stored away under the towels until next year. A group of Canadians across the way from me have all put up outside Christmas lights and I enjoy seeing those every night out my window. :)
ReplyDeleteLovely images of Christmas at your home. You are making new memories for all of you. I tried to go through some of my Christmas collection last year. I was able to lose about one box. Then we got things from my mother in law's estate. So I now I'm up two boxes! It was fun merging her vintage things with ours and having her presence with us at Christmas. It was her favorite holiday. Now it's time to think about storing it away until next year.
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