I love this post — very practical and kind to all parties concerned.

It also made me think about how my relationship with "stuff" changed after my mother died. The first few days after she died, I was all like, "OMG, a half-eaten bag of lemon drops! A receipt from CVS! I am saving these FOREVER because her fingers touched them." I was not ready to let go of anything at all. Then, gradually over time, not so much.

The stuff that is weird to deal with now is the stuff that SHE saved because it was sentimental for ME. Like a container of my baby teeth. _I_ don't want my own baby teeth, but I kind of want to keep the evidence of how much she loved me. My notes, my old artwork, the Halloween costume she made for me when I was three (X The Owl, if you must know.)

And then comes the question — what do I save for my own daughter? She does NOT need a container of my baby teeth, or, really any of the letters between me and my mother, whom she never knew. Photos of people long, long dead. Things that will cease to have any meaning at all when I die. I do not want to encumber her with having to deal with that stuff, and every year I find the ability to get rid of it a little bit more, but it is still hard.

Hope the rest of your holiday goes well. It does sound like you love your mother a lot. xo