Post Christmas Gift Management

I love Christmas, don't get me wrong. The day after Christmas is usually the day I mentally announce that this is the year I am de-cluttering the house for real. So today as I looked around at all the lovely gifts, I started thinking about what I could get rid of. Which of course begs the question, did I need any of the new stuff I got? Need, of course, is a relative term. I think it's fair to say I needed the new flannel robe, as the only robe I had was cotton chintz. Did I need the electric tea kettle? Probably not, but it is really nice and supposedly more "fuel" efficient than my old fashioned stove top tea kettle. 


And then there are the books. You've heard me talk before about not buying books. I am a big proponent of library use, but when someone asks me for a gift idea, a book is always at the top of my list. The fact is I just love possessing books! 


This year for Christmas I received 9 books. Yes 9. 

The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters


1979 Book of Common Prayer


Gratitude: A Journal by Catherine Price


Lucy Rose: Working Myself to Pieces and Pits by Katy Kelly


Fairies Sticker Storybook


Organizing for the Creative Person by Dorothy Lehmkuhl


On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King


The Everyday Life Bible by Joyce Meyer


The Bird Watching Answer Book by Laura Erickson


Eclectic right!?! Lovely to have and read, but storing them is another issue. Plus I want to read them ALL right now! I feel the need to be doing something productive this time of year, but I also want to be reading my new books. Reading is fun, not productive in my world. I'm going to have to work on that attitude. I'm not sure where it came from. 


So for now, it's time to start de-cluttering yet again. But maybe that's ok, because maybe that's just part of the process of living. 


Acquire; gain information/knowledge/experience; release. 


I like thinking of it that way!