Sometimes it's just the littlest of things...

The official kick off of the holiday decorating found me and my daughter knee deep in sorting. I decided it was finally time to sort and separate and dispose of some of my myriad of decorations and holiday knickknacks. Whew.... We pooped out long before the job was done but this is what we've done so far....

These are the boxes of decorations we are taking to the Goodwill. Surprisingly, it was pretty easy to weed out this much. I must admit I felt like I was on "Hoarders" as my daughter would hold up items with the "keep or toss" look on her face. I think so far we may have tossed more than we kept. It really does feel good.

I'd like to go on record that "toss" does not mean it goes to the dump. These boxes are all full of quite nice things that I am sure someone will be happy to own. Such as my Christmas Angels in the red Bon Marche bag.

I realize these are quite dated.... Older than my own children. I made these in my early 20's from a pattern in a magazine, probably Good Housekeeping or Redbook. They haven't seen a Christmas in many many years but I just couldn't give them up. This is finally the year to do so. Can I say I'm a bit sad that neither daughter wanted them? Okay, I can understand why, but still...??!!??

Just in case you were curious about their size, here they are in the man cave perched on two of our Ikea chairs. Yup, they are wearing real baby socks and shoes.

Next up are the boxes that are going to the dump.

To be fair, two of them are recycling, broken down boxes and fill paper. Only one is real garbage. But just think... between the two, give-aways and garbage, I have eliminated about eight boxes from our storage! Woot woot!!

All in all it just wasn't too tough. Did I just happen to be in the right mood or am I really getting tired of so much S.T.U.F.F.?? The most emotional time was coming across this:

It's a blue/greenish metallic paper coated box top. Just a piece of junk, literally. I don't even know if the bottom of the box exists. What I do know is this, it was a box that my Mom had used for Christmas things for years. Many many years.

You can't read it, but beneath the "Hutzler Brothers Co." it says Baltimore. We left the east coast and moved back to Seattle in 1961 or '62, so it's at least that old. I think Mom may have kept Christmas cards received or to be written in the box. I seem to remember it with a rubber band holding it closed. No matter what was originally in this box, it has passed through the years and must have been unconsciously noted each year as we set about bringing out Christmas. Nothing I sorted through evoked as much emotion as this broken little box top. Such a silly little thing.