Collections and Recollections

Recently I remembered I collect lanterns, although I haven't actively collected them for years. Mostly because I don't have places to keep them anymore. I see lanterns at different places and think I would like to buy them, but of course I don't because my practical side has intruded on my more impulsive side lately. Maybe one day I'll start collecting them again. But I do have one sitting to the left of my desktop here at home that I really like. I think I got this one at TJ Maxx.

The lanterns pictured aren't mine of course. I'm too lazy to take a picture of my lantern and upload it to my computer, so I just googled lanterns and found some I thought looked cool.

This got me to thinking about all the things I used to collect growing up. One thing I collected when I was little was mugs: souvenir mugs, to be more specific. I have mugs from Disneyland, Canada, Yellowstone, F.A.O. Shwartz, San Diego, etc. And sometimes when my dad went out of town on business he would bring me back a mug. So I think I have a mug from Georgia with peaches on it. I even have a mug with the Simpsons on it. I bought that one at ZCMI at South Towne Mall. The best one is the FAO Shwartz mug because the tall NYC buildings fade when you put hot chocolate in it and stuffed animals and toys appear.

All my mugs are currently wrapped in newspaper and sitting in a couple boxes somewhere at my parents' house. I'm not sure how many I have. When I lived at home, I used to sit on my bed and think about my mugs, trying to count them in my head and identify where I bought each one. I should uncover those sometime. Last time I used them was for a soup party I had several years ago. I let everyone pick a mug. I should do that again.

I collect angels too. Although I wasn't aware of that until my mother told me. Apparently, she would give me an angel every year for Christmas. I don't know when she started doing that, but she still does, I think. It was a couple years ago when she gave me a present and said,

"And this is your yearly gift for your collection." I was like,
"I collect angels?"
"Yes, I give you one every year!"
"Ohhhh..."

I can't believe I never noticed. I remember thinking, "I do have a lot of angels up in my room." Now I usually don't bring them out until I decorate for Christmas though. I wonder how many I have. I guess I could count my angels and that will tell me how many years I've been collecting them -- kind of like rings on a tree.

Again, the angels pictured aren't mine. Although they look like angels my mom would buy for me. Mostly because they're singing. And they're Scandinavian.

Other things I collect:

quotes
recipes
glass jars
pens that aren't mine

What do YOU collect?