WEEK 15. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Many cultures start a new year by cleaning out accumulated clutter. And after a wonderful gift-glutted season I have even more reason to get rid of items that no longer bring me joy. But I still have the Christmas decorations to put away. I know everyone else in the word has already done this. But we have a tradition in our family to keep them up until after two special birthdays. Our first child was born on January 6, Epiphany. So we started keeping decorations up until after his birthday. Of course the Catholic church decided that Epiphany is now celebrated on the first Sunday after New Year's Day. It doesn't make any difference to our family of free thinkers since seven years later (including two other children) our fourth and youngest child was born January 8. To keep life fair, we extended Christmas decorations until after her birthday. At least we get our money's worth out of the work of setting up the trees, wreaths, garlands, candles, nativity sets (three large and three miniature), which take several days.

Some bowls I need to 'triage.' The heart one isn't mentioned.

This year as I put items away, I hope to use the Kondo method to try (notice the word, try) to reduce the number of them. I foreshadowed this problem in Week 10, when I mentioned the number of decorated trees we favor. Oh well, while I wait for January 8 to be over, I'll continue the work started on my kitchen for Thanksgiving.

I did reduce the store of gelatine bowls in the garage (mentioned in an earlier blog). My daughter read it and said she wanted one as she was going to have a retro Christmas dinner. So it's now in Oak Park, IL. Unfortunately, I increased the number of mixing bowls. I had bought a set of stainless steel for a gift, but then discovered a nicer set of plastic bowls that also included a measuring cup and a colander which I wrapped up instead. One thing about mixing bowls is that at least they stack so don't take up much room.

My problem with bowls comes from ceramic, glass, and silver ones. I just counted thirteen:

   a Victorian style, pressed glass on a stand (from my mother's living room);

   clear glass with silver rim and smaller bowl for dip and teeny bowl for toothpicks (wedding gift);

   old-fashioned red with white interior (mother's kitchen);

   1940s cream with pastel flowers (mother);

   four clear glass with varying design styles, including a tied basket;

   a large yellow, red and blue Mexican style;

   large, flat bowl with raised ceramic vegetables around the rim (gift);

   two silver bowls for 'fancy' parties (wedding gifts),

   and a heavy wooden one for tossed salads.

If your eyes are rolling, wondering why I'm listing all these, its because I'm sure you also have lots of bowls tucked away in your cupboards and drawers and maybe even under your bed. You don't realize how much of anything you have until you either put them all together (as the book recommends) or you list them. I found these not only in the kitchen, but dining room buffet, linen closet, and on some bookshelves. In fact as I'm typing this I looked up saw--yikes, another glass bowl, filled with my husband's matchbook collection.

In my case, these non-mixing bowls serve different purposes. So it isn't just a matter of whether they give me joy but whether I no longer need them to fill a purpose or if I can stand to give away items my mother used when I was a little girl.

Marie Kondo acknowledges in her book, that sentimental objects are the most difficult to discard. She gives various rationales for allowing yourself to discard them. You would think kitchen items are the most easy to get rid of, but they can hold lots of memories. No wonder one of the most successful advertising campaigns used the slogan, “Nothing's as loving as something from the oven.”