Thinning the Decorations - Feels GREAT

I may have shared that a few weeks ago when we were having Princess Five's farewell for her mission, the girls and I went through a lifetime of holiday decorations. 

In the less than 24 hours that they were all home, we pulled out all the totes of decorations for all the holidays and had the girls each take turns taking what they wanted, if anything, from each of the holiday totes. 

I shared that I hadn't cleaned out those totes for 17 years as when the divorce started, I didn't have the energy to pull all the totes out so I just bought a pre-lit tree and got new ornaments and we just put up the stockings and our tree. 

The girls each ended up with just under a tote of decorations, holiday books, some baby clothes I saved for each that were knitted sweaters from friends in New Zealand and such. They all seemed happy with what they got and were kind to allow their sisters to get what they really wanted and it was very easy to do as I was worried emotions would run high but the girls were super chill and thoughtful. 

I kept a few decorations that they agreed I should keep other than the tree and stockings as they wanted their children to see them at my house. My mother gave us a toy train that they play with yearly etc so I kept those items and it was wonderful to be able to get rid of many totes of decorations. 

I put some of the stuff on a yard sale site and was able to sell some of the stuff. Other items I am going to use as funny prizes for a game over thanksgiving such as the book at the bottom and a few cuter or funny decorations and I was able to sell all the snowmen getting $13 for the lot but it was still something. I donated three boxes to the local food bank for them to give out or decorate with etc. 

I also realized today in dropping them off at the food bank, that we had our grand opening for the new food bank 8 years ago at the beginning of December. I tripped over a bench I recovered and painted for the new food bank today and commented on it and my friend pointed out the certificate of dedication with my signature on it about how long we had now been in the new building. I wouldn't have thought it has been that many years. 

It feels so good to be able to take more and more stuff out of the house. I feel like if I continue to go from room to room and get what doesn't belong or feel "right" in the room, I can be in a place to face the harder stuff of my mothers history etc When the house is cluttered with stuff, I feel overwhelmed pulling out my mom's stuff as I know it isn't something I can finish quickly. So, today was another step to moving forward with that. 

I have the upstairs cleaned out as much as I can get to for the holiday this week but still want to get more done on the basement but I have a wedding this week so probably won't get as much done as I would like that way, but at least it is still getting done even if it is slower than I would like. 

Have a Blessed Day!