As I am trying to remain committed to considering what I keep and what I do not, each holiday season will require some serious attention. Early on as I was reading articles and looking at books, I was thinking I would come up with some kind of logical approach to reducing my “stuff.” I am a bit ashamed to admit that I still don’t have a logical and consistent plan. As fall decorating rolled around, I found myself in front of 4 rather large black and orange crates and some other odds and ends. I was determined to reduce and simplify. My primary sorting motive is still something like do I really want my kids to have to deal with this someday? I kind of added thoughts about when I’ve last used something. I switch up from year to year, so I can’t use a year as a parameter, but some things hadn’t been displayed for quite some time. I saved quite a few halloween kinds of things that my own children enjoyed. I was thinking that I would use them when I had grandkids to kind of decorate for. I have found now that my grandboy has been around four years, I am not really decorating for him. His birthday is in October, and he has a lovely community Halloween to be a part of, so he very seldom visits our home in October. I won’t be decorating around that. As a result much of that stuff is boxed and ready to leave my home. I also felt like I was “over” scarecrows, so also boxed and/or tossed. Other choices were made on a more individual and thoughtful level - leaving me with a collection of decor cut in half. I won’t document all of the things I kept, but I snapped a few pics of my table ready for a family thanksgiving gathering - with some of my treasures in service.

These thanksgiving turkey candleholders belonged to my grandmother. These date from the 80s, and they are a small and lovely reminder of her. I was particularly pleased because the grand boy is absolutely delighted by turkeys this year and thought these were the bees’ knees. The joy in his face when he saw them confirmed the choice to keep. Looking through etsy made me want to buy a bronze set, and I WILL NOT.

The brown fiesta salt and pepper shakers are not that vintage but were a gift from my mom. I use fiesta most days so these are often in use. Easy to keep.

The green depression glass candle holders (that did eventually have tapers in them) were also my grandmother's. I just love them and am already using them for a Christmas table now that my fall gathering is over. That’s another blog I suppose, but usefulness beyond one holiday seems to be becoming important in my decisions to keep. I’m finding it to be more about color and feeling than holiday gee gaws.

The crystal salt and pepper shakers were a gift from my mother in law early in my marriage, so they probably classify as vintage. I just love them even though crystal is not currently having a moment.

The brown bottle comes from my husband’s family as well. I think it is a clorox which dates it between 1940 and 1960. Again, I use it in a variety of ways in a variety of seasons, but the seem to lend themselves to fall the most. The flowers in it are paper and were hand made by a dear friend for her daughter’s wedding. The platter below it came from my mother in law.

I guess I see a pattern beginning. I have a hard time letting go of sentimental things. I can see how that can become a problem moving forward as I am pretty sentimental. I’m sure much of what I considered silly was very important to my mom. Gosh. More to come I suppose.