It all started when I declared early November that I was pulling
all things Christmas from the attic and going through each and everything with the goal to decrease my
Christmas crap by 75%.
I have 20+ years of Christmas collecting, 7 moves including a 3 year storage unit, and the uncanny ability to block a mess out of my mind
if it is in the attic.
It is the perfect storm for a special holiday edition of
Hoarders.
Yep. Â That is it.
*shudder*
It took weeks to go through everything with help. Â I was excited to put up the tree and a few accessories and return less than 25% of the boxes to a very roomy attic.
In the process of the sorting, I came across our
Liberty Falls Village.
Well, due to rapid growth it might be re-classified as
Liberty Falls City.
Blog-Stedman
and I started collecting
Liberty Falls cottages right after we were married. Â They were featured at large department stores one a week for 5-6 weeks leading up to Christmas. Â They were $5 a piece and
we he made sure that we didn’t miss a week…
in years.
I know you are looking at that and saying to yourself,
Holly, that is pretty impressive, but those are only the early years of Liberty Falls Collectibles! Â Â But what about:
- the 57 single boxed cottages
- the 22 double & exciting triple boxed cottages often with bonus pewter people!
- 22 boxes of pewter people and animals
- 2 books
- 2 village scene mats
Oh! Â ya, I have those too…
It is a massive
Liberty Falls collection that has been taking up storage space for over 15 years.
I haven’t put them out at Christmas since 1995. Â
It is just too overwhelming.
I approached blog-Stedman with the idea of finding a new home for the collection. Â He was surprisingly receptive and went off to do a little research. Â He came back a few minutes later and said that he had found websites where the houses were listed for $15 – 30 each!
Holy crap. Â Our kids are going to a fancy college!
It would be much easier for us if we could find a buyer for all of them at the same time so blog-Stedman went back to the computer to see if people were selling Liberty Falls lots on eBay.
He came back a few minutes later and said that what people
were BUYING them.
They
were buying them at $1 – $3 a house.
What! Â We PAID $5 a house close to 20 years ago! Â Don’t these people see the value in our collection?
But then he went on to say that he had come across a rare season that we had missed…
and it was priced very reasonably.
Okay, I doubt you’ll read this comment, never mind find the time to return it, but I just gotta say I kinda super duper love your entire site. Your textual tone is freakin’ hilarious!
I love the dry witticism, I love all the pictures, I love the subjects you cover, and the most amazing part about all of this is that you’re a Mum Blogger, and y’know what? I can’t stand most Mummie Bloggers, at all. They go on and on about the most inane and boring aspects of their children’s lives, and not much else, but you’ve got such variety and so many interesting stories, to boot! Plus, you’re not afraid to talk about YOURSELF from time to time, something a lot of Mummie Bloggers are afraid to do.
So yes, just letting you know that I loved reading while I was here, and that I shall be back to read again. ^_~
if he hadn’t first read the $15-30 price tags, you wouldn’t have had the same letdown. 🙂 either way, it’s good to cleanse the attic!
Wow … that’s some clearing out you did although it sounds like blog-Stedmam was wavering at the end. Perhaps you could hold onto the village and let the children know it’s theirs to share? They might think its cool to have somethings that were mom and dad’s.
Whoa! That is some Christmas collection!
I plan to take my old things to a shelter, if I get a round to it lol.
That is a very impressive collection! I always wanted to do something like that but our married life has consisted of homes with no storage or space for display. I’m lucky I found space for a couple Hallmark ornaments every year & even those didn’t get seen for 5 years due to 3 ft trees that can’t support the ornament’s weight.
Holly. Don’t you know that Santa must now skip your house? You used CHRISTMAS and CRAP in the same sentence. Cardinal sin. I’m sure Reese will happily take any toys made for the 3 Rs 🙂
Sell! Sell! While you still can.
Because when they come to film your episode of hoarding they’ll just make ya throw it in the trash.
Then make yourself take the proceeds and buy something small, in a blue box.
Yes, I was given boxes last year of Christmas stuff from my mother last year and finally went through them this Christmas. She also collected the Liberty Falls Collection and there were pieces in those boxes but not all of them. I distinctly remember visiting from college and there being a magnetic skating rink that went with her collection, yet, unfortunately it was not part of my boxes. 🙂
Thanks for the warning, I see no good comes from visiting the attic.
just think of all the Christmas crap you can hand down to your children. You know what they say about payback don’t you.