The curse of homemade gifts

[Cadaverous Pallor]

I am very sentimental about certain objects. I have boxes and boxes of sentimental items, like stubs from Dodger games, notes from friends, cards and such. Most of them are what I consider circumstantially sentimental - "oh, that's from the day I ______."

If my mom crocheted me a blanket I'd save it forever. In fact, I have a few things she crocheted for me when I was a kid. Apparently she's lost the ability to make purposeful things.

As it is, these items don't serve any purpose, except make me cringe (and yes, I know they'll make me cringe after she passes). I can't donate them to anyone because they're covered in photos and names. They're supposed to be manufactured sentimental items. I have enough of those that I won't throw away - like the photo album my mom made for me when I got engaged - and that have real meaning.

As for mom getting offended - they almost never drive down here. Maybe once a year, if that. They've already seen that I don't display all her items. She's never asked about it. In fact, there's one that has made it to the picture wall that she was happy to see up. That one I can live with, it's a little collage type thing.

I couldn't do the "pull it out, they're coming over." Yes, I'll lie to their faces when I open a gift that I hate, but that's as far as my lie can go. I admit that after tossing the two items mentioned I may lie about having them stored somewhere - but I figure that can't hurt anyone and won't be hard to pull off.

Originally Posted by Alex Stroup

SHE'S GOING TO DIE SOMEDAY!!!! KEEP EVERYTHING!!!!

Heehee! I love Alex! Sometimes I wish I were as matter-of-fact, but I enjoy my sentimental nature too much. It's good to have the reality check though, thanks.

[lashbear]

Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

I am very sentimental about certain objects. I have boxes and boxes of sentimental items, like stubs from Dodger games, notes from friends, cards and such. Most of them are what I consider circumstantially sentimental - "oh, that's from the day I ______..

I'm very lucky. Living with a practical Stoat, he saw my shoe-boxes full of dusty faded receipts and entry tickets (I hate how thermal tickets slowly go black after time) and he said to me this wise thing:

"Instead of keeping the ticket / receipt / programme / tour brochure etc, why not take a digital photo of it in high res and keep it on CD/DVD"?

We now do this ALL the time, and I have been slowly scanning and turfing my collection. It saves space, and makes things much more accessable, and faster to retrieve.

I love my Practical Stoat !!