Pictures of children, family

Handmade gifts from my children

Grandfather's samovar

I have a sweater from each my mother and father, buried in a bureau drawer.

One of my mother's hats. She had issues in her later years with light, so she often wore wide brimmed hats. She had quite a collection, and I kept one.

A ring my grandfather gave my dad when he graduated high school and the only thing I kept and all I need. What will be hard is getting rid of my 91 yr old mother's bedroom set which was given to my great grandmother in the late 1800's as a wedding present. It was built by my great great grandfather who was the second generation owner of a large furniture manufacturing business started in the 1840's until 1964. Hand built and carved and a masterpiece of fine craftsmanship woodworking but no one will want.

My father was legally blind. I still have the magnifying glass he used to read the newspaper every day.

My mom's karakul lamb fur cape. She's been gone 25 years now and I've never worn the thing (except around the house once or twice) but it still carries her scent.

I used to have one of my dad's old cardigans - already well used when he passed many years ago - that I used for gardening in colder weather until it completely fell apart.

I have also held on to a collection of letters - 'love' letters is too strong a term :-) - sent to me by an old beau from my college days. He moved across state to another university but sent me these amazing letters weekly for months afterwards. It was not so much the sentiment in them that made me keep them but the fact that they were works of art!! Colorful, highly illustrated and written in calligraphy. They almost look like medieval manuscripts!

I have to bury myself. no family left so I am probably going to be found dead. i get rid of what will be difficult to get out. My moms things are precious to me. so I keep her gifts to me out. she would be so sad to know this is the way it is nothing I can do about itl So lucky I'm in my right mind to get this done.

My grandmother once dated a jewelers son. He gave her many nice pieces of jewelry. ie: 3 little buttons connected with a chain, inlaid with tiny rubies and pearls, or a 24k bead necklace that is so small, 14" today's ladies are too big necked to wear it. :0) Me included. An 18k orchid brooch.

Yes, china and table linens. I'm a fool for setting a beautiful talbe, but no one comes around much anymore.

It's a LEAP to assume because no one you speak to now about your things will be unwanted once you have died. The process of saying good-bye and keeping you close will include a desire for something...just as it did/does for us. I have trinkets from loved ones. They remind me to say a prayer for their eternal rest when I come across them. Their only value is sentimental and none of them I would have said I desired when they lived.

My GGGrandmother's wedding ring, my Mom's Christening cup, My Dad's Mom's wedding

ring (she died when he was 8, so I never knew her). DH and my Graduation rings. Lots and lots of pictures, some art

work from DD and Grandkids. A small box of Greeting cards made by DD and Gkids for

me...Cards from my DH...he has been gone almost 21 years now. My Maternal Grandmother's

Pedal sewing machine she received (used) for her wedding. Mostly small things...and

they will go to my DD....DH's things will go to Grandsons. Two tote boxes hold them all.

Not much here but my wife on the other hand is a different story.

I have a lot of my father's tools in my collection that I still use and sometimes think of him when I use them. Also several needlepoint pieces that my mother made hanging on the wall.

"It's a LEAP to assume because no one you speak to now about your things will be unwanted once you have died"

I think this varies considerably from person to person, family to family. The deaths of my grandparents, parents, and their siblings , and ditto my wife's, have shown consistent attitudes and preferences among our family members that no one wants to have keepsakes or physical mementoes.

We will soon be selling the lifelong residence of one of my family members. People were given the opportunity to go through and take anything they wanted but other than a very few photos each, nothing was taken. The house and garage, chock full of all kinds of stuff and (frankly) clutter, will be cleared out before sale by a service that does it on a turnkey basis. Their workers, their trucks. Clothes and other items that can be reused will be given to appropriate outlets and the rest is taken to the dump. No leaps involved.

I have a small "toy" that my mother gave me when I was 10. I refuse to toss it. I have a lot of sentimental items that I've collected over the years. Some more sentimental than others. So some I will get rid of. I donated a lot to a second hand store a few months back and it killed me but I did it.

From my Mom’s Mom, her Darning egg with foot. Similar to this one. i used it to darn my kids sock when they were young.

I keep every little silly trinket SO picks up for me. I have every stuffed animal, every random heart trinket, every item ever. I'm keeping it and you're gonna have to fight me to get them away from me.

Other than that, I have some of my grandmothers stuff from both parents because its important to my parents that they are kept, just not in THEIR house. Hummels, china, other knick knacks things. Me and my 2 sisters are the keepers of the past it seems. My brothers are not imposed upon. No matter, the stuff doesn't get in the way and will be disposed of when my parents pass,unless my sisters want my share. They are way more sentimental than I am.

The only thing I really like is some reindeer my grandpa made out of some corian countertop material. He made a couple dozen, and my grandma knitted little scarves for them. I have 4 of them and I like them around my tree each year.

I have things from my grandmother. a stand mixer, a bracelet and a pair of gloves. I have my fathers wallet that I have never opened and nothing but memories from my mother. I was beyond angry when she passed for good reason but she did ask my husband to take care of me, so i have that!

I have gazillions of things because I was an only child and some aunts were childless so I got their stuff too. I guess the most important is the tall case clock made in Germany and brought over here in 1708 with the paternal greats. It was a wag on the wall clock and when they settled in Lancaster county a curly maple cabinet was built to house it. No kid wants it but one of them better take it or I'll haunt them.

The most 'worthless' thing I keep for purely sentimental reasons are the pair of small nescafe instant coffee jars. My mom only made drip coffee when company was around, for herself she'd boil water and add a spoonful of instant to her coffee cup. Tasted dreadful. But because I love her so much, I still have those two jars in my upper kitchen cabinet, although I discarded the leftover instant coffee crystals several years after her death, because they had molded so badly.

I have tons of other sentimental items but I keep them both for sentiment and because I like the item for its own sake, such as my great-grandfather's folding wooden tape measure. It's kinda cool, I'd like it even if it weren't passed down through my family.

Letters from my father to my mother written before they were married

I never bought a high school ring because i knew I’d never wear it, but I do wear my mother’s 1931 high school ring every day.

An oil painting my Great Uncle the artist painted. It's about 3' x 5' and has resided under my bed for decades. He painted a much nicer scene that is hanging in a place of honour in my living room. I may give the painting to his Great Grand daughter when she gets married. (sigh, she just graduated High School so it will be years.)

I wrote a while ago about having lots of old jewelry. Its still sitting in my safety deposit box. Some was jewelry given to me as a child. My brother was a police officer in NYC and worked in some bad neighborhoods in NY. That was the days of cops walking the beat. He got to know most of the businesses on his beat. Some were part of the jewelry district in NYC. He kept an eye on their businesses and they did him favors. So, I would get jewelry, as a child which was heavy gold. Charm bracelet which he always added another charm for different milestones in my life.

I rarely wore it so its been sitting in the safety deposit box for most of my life. The charms are large, full of stones, some pearls. I told my daughter to sell the whole thing for its weight in gold. The bracelet also. You would never buy anything like this today, nor want to!

My father died when I was a child. I only have a few dim memories of him. But I have a pocket watch, 18k gold, engraved with his initials. It is on a long gold chain which is also heavy 18k. I think the watch was originally his mothers and was designed as a necklace. I have no idea. But my mother had a few photos of his mother wearing this watch. So probably from the 1800;s. It is beautiful. Its been sitting in the bank box my whole life. Might be worth getting appraised. I'll leave it to my daughter and she can deal with it.

I lost my husband in May. This has been the most difficult thing I've had to deal with. 50 yrs of gifts and photos. The things he loved and spent so much time with. How to dispose of his things? Our daughter and son helped me because I just couldn't deal with it. The things he bought me over the years will stay and our kids can decide. I saved his wallet, his photos and donated his music to a music archive at the library where he volunteered. But I saved his photos which hang on the walls and many are in large boxes in his closet. He was an excellent photographer.

I have a few pieces of jewelry that was my mothers. They are very pretty yet they sit in the bank with all the other jewelry. Lots of photo albums, both my family and my husbands. He was an only child and all of his family is gone. My albums are mostly of my kids, dogs and various life moments. I often look at them so they will stay. I have their school papers, drawings when they were little, etc.

Jane

I have my great-grandmother's China cabinet. While I never knew her, I did know both the great aunts who inherited it, and who eventually passed it on to me. It's a beautiful piece in its own right, so someone will want it, whether a family member or not. I also have a few pieces of old china and pottery from my grandmother, and they too are special enough that someone will be interested. Other things are the things hubby and I have collected in our travels over the years, of value to us but probably destined to a thrift shop. We just plan to enjoy them for our lifetime . Over the years, I've tried to cull our stuff, so only the better pieces remain, but we have quirky taste and I'm not sure there's a market for Afghan tent bands or Indian chapati tins... 😉

Not counting photos, I have 1 tall blue glass pitcher/vase that I don't like aesthetically, but it reminds me strongly of my mother and our home when I was a child. I still keep it, but in a not-very-prominent location. I also have a few things that have sentimental value from my life: an old canvas and leather backpack that I used over 40 years ago on my first international trip (a summer class trip to Israel), and a large coffee table from my mother's office 30 years ago, that I've stripped and refinished several times since then - the "sweat equity" of my refinishing has made me particularly bonded to that table.

Tom's leather jacket and red scarf. Every time I open the closet door I see it and picture him wearing them.

Even though I got rid of his other clothes (or got them made into my quilt) I'd never part with that jacket. I also have his denim jacket which I wear in cooler weather when I'm out walking.

Photos. Clippings of cat hair when they have to go in for euthanasia. My [parents' recipe index file. I really wanted to keep grandmother's chair, but it was so hard to get up out of as I developed knee problems, and it took up a large footprint. But I gave it to someone who really appreciates it.

I know there are some other things here.

Pieces of paper with my mother's handwriting on it.