The First Gift of Christmas – in November!
It is only November but I have already received
my first gift of Christmas!
Today a customer came into the store just to look around and left with a table and chairs that brought us both to tears. This is a great story of comfort for our many consignors that bring us their beloved items with a heavy heart, for a variety of reasons. Often our consignors are downsizing or moving and their children do not want, or need, their precious items. One of the many things I have learned is, generally, your kids do not want your stuff! This is a sad fact and stems from our affluence as a society. Our teens turn into twenties, get their own homes, and they develop their own style.
Next lesson – you should use your stuff, even the good stuff, now! Years ago I worked for a non-profit that helped the aging. I took a group of college students to an elderly woman’s home to paint her house. As we moved some furniture we found a brand new, never opened box of pots and pans. One of the students asked the woman what she wanted them to do with the box. She said “I have been saving that for a special occasion.” The woman was 89 years old, in bad health and no longer able to cook. That is the day I started using my crystal and china with my own family. If my kids do not want my treasures later, it’s okay, it was used! …and maybe they will want it BECAUSE it was used often with the intention of showing them that they are special!
So your children don’t want your stuff and you don’t want to save it anymore. Now what do you do? Often the answer to that is: “It is just too good to give away”, or, “in order to get something that fits better in my small space, I need to sell what I have.’ No matter the reason, consigning your furniture is often a good option. Last week we had a family that brought in a table that had been in their family for a while. It was the kind of piece that you just want to touch. If that table could talk…the stories it could tell! The family valued the table more than the market would bear and we had to tell them that the price set in our store was accurate to move the piece. After all, we all love our things and value them in ways that are not financial. Unfortunately the selling price has little to do with our emotional attachment….usually! In the case of the well loved table, the emotional attachment came in on the buyer’s side. On this particular cold November day, a customer walked into our store looking for nothing in particular. She walked around the corner and saw a table decorated for the Holidays and began to tear up. The table called to her. Everything about this piece was what she had long wanted. There had been several times, over the course of her marriage, that she had tried to purchase one just like it, but her husband never gave in to her wishes. Today however, she was no longer married. It was her time to buy exactly what she had always wanted! She kept saying “I just can’t believe I found this!” So our table that could tell stories of one family is now part of a new beginning for another family. As it should be!
Sometimes letting go of things you no longer need or use, can become a tremendous gift to someone else. I am blessed to have been a witness to the event and thankful for my very first gift this Christmas Season!
Happy Thanksgiving From Interiors By Consign!