Stuff...stuff...and more stuff!

After being threatened yesterday.....

Jingle calmed down a bit today, so K-Rae decided he can stay.  

We awoke to this nice violin music coming mysteriously from....Jingle! He brought a little sterling violin necklace for K-Rae with a note that said, 
"Bet you didn't know I could play the violin too!"
The violin in this picture is actually K-Rae's very first violin...
What started out as a rental, is now a family heirloom, 
as I got too attached and just couldn't bear to return it.

I kind of have that tendency to get attached to "stuff."  
Wish Jingle could help me organize all this "stuff" we seem to have accumulated,
before good ole' St. Nick soon  adds to our ever mounting collection.

(oh yes...he will visit our house...K-Rae is asking him for a little weaving loom to make potholders and scarves and Little Miss Mae is wanting a science experiment kit...LOVE the simple requests of this age!)  

But let's see, what else do the girls really need for Christmas this year.....?
Puzzles....not really---we have a whole tub of them in the garage that are rarely used.

 Puppets, then.....nope, same story!

 A random assortment of "rainy day" items, uh--no...and it never rains here to use them!

 Legos....nope, plenty of those too.

 Games, then....um...no; don't really play the ones we have!

How about stuffed animals?  Well...we have a new rule in our house,
if you bring a stuffed animal into this house, you have to take one out with you!

 School clothes? Dress-up clothes?  I think you get the picture.... 

 Dolls then?

 Or books?

Sigh....feeling challenged lately.  A friend of mine went to the Philippines this summer and spoke at my MOPS group about how much "excess" our culture has.  Having lived in Honduras a year (pre-kids), I know exactly what she is talking about, and felt really challenged by her message.  And I really don't think this excess "stuff" stuff is making us happy.  It seems to actually add to my own personal stress level to try to keep it picked up and organized.  

So we started with going through our coats and each donating a coat and hat to a local coat drive for the homeless.  Went through the stack of the girls "Christmas dresses" and came up with about 6 that will fit our girls at this time.....so took 4 of those to the kids consignment store and kept 1 for each of the girls.  But really, this is just a drop in the bucket...so much more "stuff" to go through before this excess overtakes our house once again, as it seems to do every year at this time.  

Needing ideas that will not add extreme excess to the kiddos on your own list?  How about a contribution to their weekly music lesson or buying a gymnastics class for them?  A punch card to the local recreation center?  Maybe a subscription to a good kids' magazine?  A sheet of cartoon character stamps they can use to mail letters to you....ask for them at the Post Office.  A new long awaited DVD or a CD by their favorite music group?  Or how about a family gift certificate to the movies or their favorite restaurant to eat out at? Fast food gift cards are always appreciated by families with kids.  Or maybe a gift card to iTunes to add some new music/apps to their electronic device?  Or a handmade coupon to spend a day with you doing a local activity of their choice.  Just thoughts, for what they are worth and maybe someone will find them helpful!  

Wish me luck in this organizing and purging endeavor...

what I really lack to be successful is time....

and a slight tendancy toward hoarding doesn't help any either, 

but I certainly don't lack good "helpers!"