Last night began the Great Purgation of 2007. In preparation for St Nicholas Day, one birthday, three Western-Christmas celebrations, and one Nativity which will bring in more inventory than our 2,000 sq. ft. home can handle, we had to purge.Every few months I find a way to distract the children while I enter their rooms with a Hefty bag and an unsentimental heart. I throw away all their broken toys, everything that is missing its accompanying part or remote control, and anything I'm just tired of looking at or stepping on.
Unfortunately, I have bred five little dragons who guard their hoard of toys like the beast guards his treasure. Maybe it is because their fallen nature is peeking through their innocent exteriors. Or maybe it's because they have a wicked mother who sneakily and unsentimentally rifles through their junk and commits it to outer darkness.
To psychologize I could say that my mother was and is something of a pack-rat. So I am less inclined to be one. I do, however, treasure two toys and one book from my childhood that I wouldn't dream of throwing away. The book is Little Bear, and one of the toys is a wooden train.
The other toy is a plastic yellow staircase that went with my Fischer Price doll house (which went on to meet it's great reward many years ago--or maybe it's in my mom's attic). This staircase had three steps and a banister. But the thing I loved about it was the door and cubbyhole underneath the stairs. The Fischer Price people fit perfectly, and I always wanted a house with a cubby like that. So, until I get the house, I'll hold onto my staircase.
