Skip to main content

Prized Possessions




This time of year excites me for so many reasons. I love the holidays. I love spending time with my family. We get together and eat wonderful food that’s been passed down for generations and afterward most of the menfolk nap all around the house and the women and kids play board games. Although these last few years playing board games has been more difficult with so many toddlers!   

Once Thanksgiving is over, Advent and Christmas decorating, and preparations begin! Some say I go a little crazy decorating – yes, I even decorate my bathrooms. I don’t know maybe its because I’m the daughter of a second generation real bearded Santa or maybe it’s just because I still have a childlike heart when it comes to the magic and wonders of Christmas, but either way no surface of my house goes undecorated. I’ve been known to have seven trees of various sizes up during a season. And that’s when I get to see some of my most prized possessions after nearly a year in storage. Handmade ornaments. These ornaments are very carefully packed separate from all my other ornaments. There is extra tissue padding around them. They are some of the first decorations to be put up and the last to be taken down (sometime after Epiphany on January 6).    

The vast majority of these ornaments are ones Ryan and I made together after we were married, but there are some each of us made when we were kids, making them over thirty years old, and some that friends and family gave to us. They go on special trees I refer to as “Love Trees” in my bedroom. They are the one of the first things I see when I wake up each morning and one of the last things I see when I fall asleep each night. 

I’ve toyed with the idea of leaving them out all year, but I’m afraid they would then just blend into the decor of my house too much and the special feeling I get seeing them for a little over a month every day would wear off. You know what they say about too much of a good thing. Plus from a preservation standpoint it is better to give them some time to rest - to not be exposed to the light, potential dust, or prolong exposure to pets or toddlers that might accidentally damage them. Most museums have a rule of thumb that for every month on view an object should have 3-4 months of rest.   

Now that our girls are turning four, I know that we’re going to be getting more handmade ornaments. I would say we easily get at least six new handmade ornaments a year. After this Christmas I believe it will be time to upgrade my storage. The boxes are quickly becoming too small to properly hold and pack all the ornaments.   

So I’ll be taking measurements, looking through catalogs to decide the best sizes and shapes, placing my order and then waiting for them to come in so I can repack. I’m sure there will be a blog post or two where I’ll cover the process for all of you.
   
So what heirlooms do you have that you might only pull out of storage this time of year? How are they doing? Is it time for you to consider some upgrades in your storage? Feel free to reach out and ask any questions you might have and be sure to get your your copy of the free guide I put together:


Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Things that Endanger Your Treasures

  When people find out my degree is in Museum Studies and I work at a museum, I’m constantly being asked questions like: “What things do I need to look out for in order to protect my keepsakes?”  “What’s the worst thing that could happen to my great-grandmother’s wedding dress?” “So my photos are just thrown into a cardboard box, that’s probably not the best thing, right” “I could never afford to properly store my grandfather’s Bible, could I?” The majority of my answers revolve around four things that can endanger your treasures so, I’ve created a little guide on those things and solutions you can start implementing today to help mitigate them. I’ve made it in a worksheet form to really help you think through changes you might need to make. But I also wanted to share a fifth thing for you to be aware of just in this blog post and that’s how materials can interact with each other. The more complex an object is as far as the materials that it is made up of the more complex it c...
Read more

It’s Ok to Use It

  I’m often asked, “But what should I DO with my family heirloom?”  My response is always, “What do you want to do with it?” At this point people are often taken aback. I think they assume I’m going to tell them to lock it away in storage and never use it again for fear of breaking or damaging it. In some cases, that may be what might be best for the object. You have to consider the condition its in and what your goals are for it. If it is a book in poor condition, but you are hoping your great-grandchildren will get to see it. Then, yes, probably the best thing to do is stabilize it and store it, taking it out occasionally to check on the condition, but to try to manipulate it as little as possible.  Other objects don’t necessarily need to be treated so delicately. For instance, something I chose that belonged to my maternal grandmother was soup bowls. There were only two of them and they aren’t valuable. They're Anchor Hocking from the 1970s. They were her everyday dish...
Read more

Go to an Educational Technology Conference

I recently got to go to the Educators' Technology Conference . It was actually organized by teachers for teachers so some people wonder why I went. Well in my opinion it is important for museum professionals who are planning on using technology in their museum to know what technology is being used in schools so you know if what you are creating is compatible. It was very enlightening. It was fabulous, but not surprising, to learn that teachers are looking for educational content online for use in the classroom. Their looking for audio, video, worksheets, presentations, in short anything to aid them in teaching their students. The disappointing revaluation is that they often don't know where to look or they are blocked from going to the sites they know about. There was much discussion about the websites teachertube.com and schooltube.com , two fabulous sites dedicated to offering a place to find safe content for educational purposes. I was shocked to find out that many ...
Read more