Hello, I've been lurking on these forums for a few weeks now, but haven't posted or commented yet. While I've perused a lot, I haven't gone more than maybe 10 pages back in the topics, so forgive me if this has already been brought up in another thread (I couldn't find a search button to see if it had).
I was wondering if any of you had dealt with uncluttering personalized items? I have a few things with my name engraved/embroidered/painted on them, and therefore can't sell or give away. Some of them are sentimental ceramics from my childhood that my great aunt made for me (doing ceramics was her hobby), but they are hidden away in boxes because they are kind of embarrassing or just not my style. For instance, one is of a naked baby, standing on a pedestal, and the pedestal has my name, birth date, and birth weight painted on it. She made it soon after I was born, to commemorate my birth. I used to have it displayed in a curio/room divider between my kitchen and dining room, until a visiting friend pointed at it and said, "what's up with the naked baby?" That's when I realized I didn't want a naked ceramic baby (or ceramic "southern belle"-style ceramic dolls--also with my name and birth date painted on their pedestal) as part of my decor, nor did I want to embarrass my friend who asked the question by explaining it was a gift from my dearly departed great aunt. Other personalized gifts I have never liked or used--the bright blue fleece blanket my DH's aunt gave to us, with our names and wedding date embroidered in white. It doesn't match any colors in our house (she assumed our wedding colors were going to be the same as our home decor colors), and I've never used it, or even displayed it. DH is indifferent to it, as well. I keep thinking I will donate it to a homeless shelter or something, and for some reason think they won't want it, since it's such a personalized item it might be awkward for whoever receives it.
Sometimes I secretly wish these items would be damaged or break beyond repair in a (mild) earthquake, so that I can just throw them out without feeling like I purposefully threw away something pretty with my name on it (don't like the idea of my great aunt's ceramics sitting in a landfill)!
Any thoughts or suggestions for how to deal with these kinds of personalized, sentimental items?
