To a haggis - and some sorting

Mr hazelh and I worked hard on the sorting at Mummy hazelh's house today.

I started on all the Christmas paraphernalia that I found randomly piled up under the grand piano. I don't think anybody has properly looked properly at the contents of these boxes for 50 years. As evidence, in my extra I present the list of Christmas presents that our parents chose for me and my sisters in 1970!

I examined every single item, put anything that was broken in the bin (or, for paper items, recycling), archived interesting bits and pieces (the present and Christmas card lists, and cards and letters from others that my mother cannot part with), then organised everything else in a way that will delight the person who unpacks the Christmas decorations next year. Everything is now neatly stored in labelled tins, inside three large boxes, in the attic above the cloakroom.

Meanwhile Mr hazelh rounded up all the obviously non-precious books. We laid these out on the drawing room floor and went through a 'relegation' (technical term) exercise with Mummy hazelh. I was astonished at the number of books that belong to my not-so-little sister. These have all been placed in her bedroom. (My not-so-little sister seems to have been using my parents' house as a warehouse for her own belongings for the past 30+ years - aaargh!)

This afternoon we took the rejected books to the Oxfam book shop in town. We also delivered some board games, jigsaws, and curtains to charity shops. We spread our favours, fearing that a single shop would not take everything.

This evening we were guests for a Burns' supper at Katherina's house. Fortunately our 199 year-old edition of Burns' poetry survived this morning's cull!

Exercise today: not much apart from a little lifting and carrying.