Toying Around With the Idea

So, I guess I should mention that there are other long-term goals that have been established in our family.  We have an entire spreadsheet dedicated to our long-term financial goals and another spreadsheet dedicated to our long-term home/work/life goals.  I may be a bit obsessed.

At any rate, one of our goals is to become as minimalistic as possible.  I have read a few books on the subject (like The Happy Minimalist), for one. We can't expect to whittle down our lives to absolutely nothing, but we can learn to be very mindful about the things that we buy, and the things that we already have and choose to keep.  Everything needs to have sufficient purpose and worth in our home.  "Purpose" is defined in a number of ways, of course.  Things (like my cat blankie) hold great personal value, even if they aren't in regular use.  Other things (like my boots) are largely purposeful, even if there's no amount of attachment that I set with them.  We're trying to achieve a healthy balance of those sorts of things.  With that in mind, in 2009, we managed to donate (or get rid of) over 50 garbage bags full of stuff.  And, yet, our house is still overly-cluttered and frustrating.  Furthermore, I am not the neatest person in the universe (just ask my hubbers--he'll tell you), and so removing items can only help me to be more organized with the things that I have...

Enter Christmas and a one-year-old.  Now, Joe and I have tried very hard to buy gifts for Andy that have a purpose.  We love to give him books, we encourage him to play with toys that are clearly tools for learning, and we love to watch his imagination and sense of self develop even while he plays with regular household items like spoons, bowls, etc.  However, this Christmas, we were all overwhelmed with an abundance of toys.  Many are toys that would fit within the guidelines that we've tried to set.  For example, he received a farm with several animals that he has since brought up to us while making the correlating animal sound (or, barking like a dog, in some cases).  He has an entire play station (thanks to my parents) with colors, matching games, counting games, etc., and he has a set of "tools" like these.  The majority, however, are simply just toys.  There's very little redeeming value in them, and we would not have bought them on our own.  I don't know what to do about things like that because we've tried to make our feelings known on this issue, AND we want to show how grateful we are for the people who love our son.  It's a bit of a conundrum, especially in light of the fact that we're trying to slim down what we have in general.