Childhood Keepsakes
Monday, November 07, 2016My husband has boxes and boxes of things saved from his childhood years, by his Mum rather than because of any great desire on his part to hold on to things, but I have noticed that he does have hoarder tendencies. Thankfully all of this stuff is still at his parents house, in the attic (and I dread the day it comes here and I have to find a home for it all!).
I have very few things from my childhood, I guess I'd have more if my parents hadn't divorced and cleared out the loft of the family home, but even then we weren't a family that held onto much.
What I do still have are some of my favourite things.
There isn't any particular toy from my childhood that I remember and wish I still had. I do wish I had some of my early paintings, or craft projects, and maybe my first pair of shoes, or the badges from my Brownie uniform. I'd love to have the cake decorations that we put on our Christmas cake year after year, and some of the decorations from our Christmas tree. That said if I'd been offered these things I probably would've declined the offer at the time.
I've often said to Andy that we're not storing things in the loft, because once something goes up into a loft it rarely comes down again. In my view a loft is a place to store stuff that gets thrown away by relatives when you die. And anyway I have grand plans to turn the loft into a studio with big windows so I can work with a view that stretches for miles...
I'm not completely devoid of sentiment, I do keep some things. Things that when it comes to it, I can't part with. I have a memory box full of all sorts of odds and sods - old postcards, college ID pass, letters. Anything remotely connected to our wedding remains in our possession, which means I have a ridiculous amount of glass voltives, but I use them, they're not sat in a box somewhere gathering dust. Although I do concede that the dried flower petals from my bouquet are a bit pointless... as are the ones I saved from the table on our first anniversary.
Do you hoard? What do you have from your childhood? What are the things you'd never part with?
14 comments
I have very few things from my childhood, mainly thanks to things being lost/thrown away/broken with every move (thanks army!), but I do still have the very first stuffed toy I was ever given. He's looking a bit worn these days, but he's still around. Other than that I mainly have books that I hope to pass on to my children some day.
ReplyDeleteYes, I think I kept the books so that I could read them to my children one day too.
DeleteMy Best Fiend! I loved those books!
ReplyDeleteBooks? There is more than one?! *runs off to investigate*
DeleteI don't have much from my childhood itself except for Pinky (you remember him) and some Enid Blyton books. Not much else really!!! Love your studio idea!
ReplyDeleteI do remember Pinky :)
DeleteI think everyone keeps books.
When I left home, I didn't take any of my childhood stuff with me. However, over the years, a couple of things have ended up here anyway, like my favourite childhood books, the odd cuddly toy and my doll wardrobe, which is now being used as kitchen storage! Most of my toys were inherited by my younger brother and sister. Now that we are clearing my dad's house, I keep finding other stuff I'd like to keep. I can't get over the fact that I now have my first pair of shoes here ... xxx
ReplyDeleteBooks seem to be high on the list of things that people keep. I like that. I also like that your childhood doll wardrobe is being used still, that's lovely! Who says you have to keep things but not re-purpose them? I'd love to have my first pair of shoes, I hope you'll share them on your blog ...?
DeleteI did share my first pair of shoes already, just a couple of posts ago. While we were clearing my dad's house, we found them at the back of the cupboard. I am very touched my parents kept them ... xxx
DeleteOh lovely, I'll pop over and have a look, I'm due a proper blog catch-up!
DeleteI'm not particularly sentimental but I do have quite a few things from my childhood, more because my taste in stuff has changed and I still think they're pretty cool rather than being emotionally attached to them - my Mary Quant "Havoc" doll and Mattel Talk-Up dolls, the Victoriana I used to spend my pocket money on - a scrap printed screen, bisque dolls & nik naks. I've also ended up with loads of family heirlooms, portraits and daguerreotypes, mourning jewellery, a jacket from the Boer War, my Great Grandmother's wedding dress, great great grandmother's mourning jacket, great grandpa's top hat. Actually scrub that, I am a hoarder! xxx
ReplyDeletehehe! I've thought of other things I still have but had totally forgotten about since writing this post - perhaps I'm more of a hoarder than I thought too?!
DeleteAll of your things sound amazing, especially the family heirlooms, of which I have none.
I'm definitely a hoarder and tend to be quite sentimental about things. My mum, however, is very unsentimental and goes through stages of throwing away all our old stuff (although to be fair, she does usually check with us first - resulting in my middle brother at one point having a house full-to-bursting with old junk from our childhoods, because he hated seeing anything being thrown away).
ReplyDeleteSince writing this post I've found a number of other random things - a pencil from my Dad's toolbox for example! It's nice to keep things but keeping everything would drive me nuts, clutter irritates me more and more the older I get...
DeleteThank you for taking the time to comment x