Collections

Collector Ornaments

With this title, as well as the numerous end of the years pleas for donations, you may want to stop now. However, please continue reading. The aforementioned December begging will be addressed in my next YouTube video.

If more people for whom I purchase gifts would be collectors gift giving would be simple. There are plenty of things to collect. My wife did (maybe still does) collect figurines called "Willow Tree Angels." Exchanging gifts between us ended years ago. It succumbed to the, "If you need it buy it." way of living. (When my in-laws were living and the multi-generational brood gathered at their home, presents were opened one person and one gift at a time. This took forever!) If what I purchased was already a part of a person's collection it was simple to exchange it for a new item. No sizes. No colors. No contemplation. Buy it and forget it!

Willow Tree Angels

During my teenage years I became a phillumenist. Everybody had to be special or maybe a bit quirky and this hobby was unique. At that time matchbooks were readily available. Not only did more people smoke, but it was a cheap way to advertise. Try to find a single book of paper matches today. Some were available near cash registers. Next time you order and pay on your app find the option to ask for a book of matches. Or when you come to the drive-up window ask the worker for a book of matches. As you pull away with your order, ask the two people outside vaping for matches. It was good that my time as a phillumenist was short lived! If it was not for placing   

No advertising here!

"matchbook collecting" in the search bar, I would have believed this was an obsolete hobby. Currently it is quirkier than ever!

The idea of collecting, organizing, displaying, and obsessing over stuff no longer holds any value. My stuff, instead of defining me, detracted and delayed me from doing other things. Over the past decade letting go of things and collecting experiences has become important. Experiences can be collected alone, with others, and with a group. They can involve distant travel, as well as coffee with a friend. Season, size, color, fit, or fragrance can be incorporated or discarded as experiences encompass what is at that specific moment. I have been able to travel to other continents packing more experiences than clothing. The colors of the sunset sky and the soon to follow full moon at the nearby state park were amazing gifts. I have digital images stored in a cloud, yet being in the moment of the experiences cannot be duplicated! These are gifts as

Setting sun at local park

Coffee to be shared

varied, unique, and quirky as life itself. Come to think about it, life is a gift to be experienced!

Whatever this time of year means to you; whatever gift giving and receiving traditions you embrace; I hope you are surrounded by experiences which inform, impact, and expand your life. These collections never become obsolete!

In a London park