This post is part of a series of weekly posts which reflect on life’s journey, old memories and family stories (see below for more info).
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Once your children start school, there is a regular (and not universally welcome) stream of hand-made gifts which makes an exodus from the classroom to your home, via the omnipresent book bag.
This is a tradition which has endured for generations, and parents all over the world have been constantly battling with the dilemma of whether to keep it on the ever-impassable fridge door, or to head for the shredder. Maybe I can help.
Snowman, by Helen, 1973
If my mother had reached for the waste paper basket 40 years ago when I brought this home… just one in a long line of creations, no doubt…then I wouldn’t be sharing it with you as a tiny piece of my personal history at this moment.
If I had kissed my now-taller-and-hairier-than-me-teenage-son on the head in 2004 and politely scrunched the offering below into a giant football, I would not be able to place it carefully above the fireplace every Christmas Eve, as is current tradition.
George’s Christmas poem, aged 4
“Christmas Time
Christmas tree
Beautiful angel
Snowfalkes faulng
Lots of presents
George“
These are tokens of warm family festivities past, symbolic of the growth that we have experienced, the many Christmases which have passed between us, and a little beacon of hope that the coming season will provide us with even more of the same.
Are you keeping the Christmas treasure which your children are making for you with love in their little hands? Maybe you still bring out one of your own childhood creations each Christmas? What are your views on the ‘bin it or save it’ dilemma? I must confess that, even if it’s destined for the rubbish eventually, everything in our house gets scanned and preserved in some virtual form, at the very least.
Stocking by Oliver, age 5
It is the imperfection in the stitches which make me love this stocking so much. It is the wonky writing and creative spelling in my 4 year old son’s poem which renders it so endearing. These things were created with care, indicative of their growing motor skills, and now a sign of their incredible progress.
If it touches your heart, don’t bin it.
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More about the Life’s a Journey weekly memories series.
