'Tis the Season To Lose All Reason

Working in retail, I have found myself completely done with all Christmas shopping & nearly done with all the wrapping...just waiting on a few internet purchases to arrive in the mail. I really over-did it this year, as I often do, but I enjoy it. Co-workers, neighbors, friends & family are all bought for. I'm done. I've been shopping all year long so that the Holidays don't take too great of a financial hit on us & of course, there is Pass the Trash.

Pass the Trash...a family tradition that has been going on since the mid-seventies.

Pass the Trash...taking something from within your own home, wrapping it up & passing it along to someone else near & dear, with the hopes that they will 'get it.'

Pass the Trash...taking things from within your house, from your yard or from the streets & creating something else, something different, something unique & special to pass along with the hopes that the recipient will enjoy.

Over the years I have seen empty cigarette packs transformed into building blocks, nurses uniforms turned into quilts, balloons & newspapers take the shape of piggy banks, straws & eggs made into musical instruments, bullet shells, elephant ears & tin cans take shape of windchimes. The list goes on & on & on.

This years feature Pass the Trash item from me will be these authentic 1970's disco-mamma platform shoes. They have made the rounds from aunt to neice, mother to daughter, from sister to sister & now they may travel another generation from aunt to neice. they have been in our family since the 70's and hopefully they will continue to stay in the family. I have sat on them many years, waiting for the right time to pass them on to the next generation. I have worn them out probably 10 times & have loved them so I am hoping that this years recipient will be able to do the same. These shoes began our family tradition of Pass the Trash thirty years ago & I wonder (hope) that they will still be fluttering around us in thirty more years. (They are so cool)

Much of our Pass the Trash goodies are made from things around the house. One night I was talking to my DH about all the marbles we find in the yard & I had an idea. I asked him if he'd walk with me after supper through our old neighborhood in search of a good fallen oak limb. I wanted to make a coat/hat/towel rack with a branch of oak. He said no problem & we suddenly heard an unfamiliar sound. We jumped up, leaving our plates of warm food, to rush outside & identify the source of the strange sound. We didn't have to go far...one of our own large oaks had dropped a huge limb. We laughed, ran back in, gobbled our food down & raced back out front with saws in hand. 'Ask & Ye Shall Receive' sometimes rings true! I took marbles from the yard & found a drill bit similar in size. I drilled out notches in the wood & sank the marbles in with some help from elmers glue. I then mounted some Dollar Tree funky copper hooks & walla... the trash has been passed!

In our world, Pass the Trash is more valuable than any PS3 could ever be. In our World, we are careful what we give because we know that one day it may be what we receive. In our World, we Pass the Trash & love it.