April 17th, 2020

Well lookee what I found!~

I'm still slowly working on bringing order out of chaos in the utility/storage/laundry room.  And yesterday as I opened yet another unlabeled box I found these little cuties.  A batch of bears!  Awwww.    

It was actually more than just bears, there were bears, and bunnies and dogs and well miscellaneous other stuffed animals.  All different colours and sizes and shapes and degree of cuteness.  There were even some of my old dolls too!  I had completely forgotten that I still have this stuff.   How did they all not get sold or donated before we moved here from Colorado with everything else?

I felt a little nostalgic going through the box.  Every single thing in the box was a gift to me.  And, while yes, the dolls are leftover from my childhood, the plush animals were all presents I received as a full grown adult. Yup.  Every single one of them.  Valentine's Day was always good for at least one adorable little animal.  Christmas stockings too.  Easter Basket,  why not? 

Those soft cute little faces are hard to resist.  Any time I walk through the toy department of a store I cannot help but give them a little pat on the head.  Yes I'm that person. Tim knows that deep down inside of me still lives a small child (and sometimes not so deep down).  My sister knows this, my kids know,  my friends know and thusly an unintentional collection happened. 

Anyway,  It appears that I kept them all.  It was partly for sentimental reasons but also because long ago and far away, back in Colorado, we had a very large house.  A house that was certainly big enough for more than one Christmas Tree.  In fact, it was big enough for multiple trees. Each one decorated differently.  One of them I decorated with the stuffed animals.  And, you will just have to trust me on this because I have no idea where any of the photos of this are, it looked so stinkin' cute!  Then I remembered that I still had, packed away somewhere, a few of my old dolls and they joined the Christmas Tree crew.  

As I mentioned above, the dolls actually are from my childhood.  I didn't have a ton of dolls but I did have some.  And when I grew up, most of them seem to have vanished. I have no idea what happened to them.  Somehow I managed to  keep just these few dolls the same way I kept just a few of my childhood books.  I suspect that originally I held on to them for my own children. Who knew that I would only have boys? While my boys loved the books, they had absolutely zero interest in the dolls.  And perhaps in the back of my mind I assumed that one day I would have grandchildren who might enjoy them too.   Well as it turns out, there are no grandkiddos, only grandcats.  And that's fine too. Everyone makes the choices that are best for them and my job is to support that and so I do :) 

So now I have to ask myself an important question.  Why am I still holding on to  this stuff?  As long as we live in this particular house, there will only ever be one Christmas Tree because that's all we have room for (and barely that).  The tree we do have is at least marginally more traditionally decorated. So I actually do not need all of these toys.

So the questions were,  am I read to get rid of these toys and then, if so, what do I do with them?

My first thought was Good Will would be a great place to donate these critters.   But our local Good Will is closed for the duration of the Quarantine and now I'm wondering if they will even be interested in something that (in their minds understand) might possible have The Virus lurking on it.  Dang.  The good news is that most of these stuff animals are machine washable so if they are truly concerned, they can be washed.   When Good Will finally opens it's doors again, I can try to assure them that our household is now and has always been virus free but  I have no idea if they will believe me.  

Perhaps it won't be a problem at all and I am over thinking this.  Once Good Will is ready to accept donations again, maybe I can drop them off with impunity and they will be accepted with gratitude.  Ok let's assume that is the case.  For now anyway.

But the dolls?  Would little girls nowadays want these really old dolls of mine?  They aren't a 'name' that every knows after all.  I mean they aren't Barbie after all.  The two little dolls are actually called Betsy McCall dolls.  Which would mean NOTHING to any little girls now.  But when I was small they were a very big deal.    The bigger doll back left, was originally a bride doll back in the 1950's when I got it.  The Bridal Gown she came with is long gone and somewhere along the line I made a couple of dresses for her myself which is absolutely laughable.  I cannot sew worth a damn and it's obvious. Still she is, after a fashion,  clothed at least and there are few things sadder than a naked doll.

But what on earth do I do with them?  

For now I put them back in the storage room.  But at some point a decision is going to have to be made.  I will be absolutely honest.  I thought I was ready to get rid of them all but as I was packing them away, I realized that there were a couple that I simply cannot part with.  They  will just have to live with me forever and if people think poorly of me for it, then that's just too bad, so sad.

​I've tucked them discreetly into various bookcases.  Probably nobody but me will ever know that they are there.

​If you have any suggestions or ideas of what I can do with these animals and dolls, please let me know.    My childhood books on the other hand, those  I am keeping.   Probably forever.