Binge and purge…

Yes, that's a totally disgusting title. Sorry. But, it's what has been happening here in our home since Christmas. And, I'm not talking about lunch. I'm talking about TOYS. Semi-annually, I have the great joy of sorting through all of the children's toys. Keep in mind that our children have two ENTIRE ROOMS of the house completely to themselves. Not only this, but they have also taken over corners of four other rooms of our house with all their little trinkets. Add to this that every Christmas each of my three children receives gifts from about 10 different groups of people and some of these 10 give more than one gift. Add to this that my son's birthday is 2 days after Christmas, so he gets another 10 sets of gifts. Within a matter of 3 days, our home goes from to Toymania to a stinkin' Toysapalooza!

Much like that show on TLC, my typical purge procedure is to create three big piles; Keep, Trash, and Donate. I'm also compelled to make a fourth temporary pile containing pieces of toys that I KNOW belong to other pieces of the same toy….I just have to find them!

The Keep pile is exactly what you think it might be. Of course, it includes everything most recently received this Christmas. It also includes anything that the kids still enjoy OR items that I would have deemed Donate or Trash except that their loving owners rescued from Mommy's cold calloused hands as they were being banished into THE PILE. This is why I make every effort to do this work in SECRET.

Now, the TRASH this time around was insane. I finished the purge this morning and I ended up with 4 large trash bags full of…..yes, trash. We're not really trashy people, it just builds up. Lost puzzle pieces. Miscellaneous Legos. CD cases with no cds. Broken this-es and that-s. McDonald's toys from 2004. Why do we still have those and why did I pay $3.50 for it in the first place? Trash also includes any toys or books that have been so loved and so used up that they're no good to anyone anymore. That's when you know a toy is really loved.

The DONATE pile is the hardest one for me. Strangely enough, I do get attached to some of these toys. I have memories of the kids playing with certain items and as they outgrow them, it reminds me of how much they are growing up and changing. I keep anything particularly special, but I can't keep it all. So, we give most things outgrown but still in good working order, to families in need.

This year however I've done something a little different. I've started saving back a few toys for the future. I'm already secretly planning for grandchildren so I'm building a little stash of some of our favorite toys that I think will pass the test of time. I have these little fantasy glimpses of little ones coming over to grandma's (MY) house to play and getting out some of the old toys that Mommy and Daddy used to have. Some of my secret keepers this time include the wooden shape sorter, Miss Spider's Sunny Patch mama and baby bugs, the magnetic stacking choo choo train. There are others, too. And, I'm sure there will be more added to that collection over the next few years. In all the madness of out-with-the-old and in-with-the-new, I think it'll give me a little sanity—a little something to hold on to as my children's live race by before my eyes. A bit of hope for the future that one day, there will be new Little Ones and that I'll get to re-live a bit of this God-graced journey again with the next generation.

Until then, I'll remember that the best memories of toys are the ones the kids and I make playing together. And that even as toys come and go, the memories are the real treasures.

Thanks to everyone who bought toys for our precious kids this Christmas. Your contribution to happy times in our home is priceless!