Christmas in May

Pack Rat Confessions Part 76 (or is it 5?...  I don't know anymore)

We were looking for a set of dishes which I was sure could be found in the attic. Cissy took some of our plates to college with her and now there aren't enough plates to go around so, we thought we would break out the dishes we got second-hand from a relative, whose name happens to be REDACTED.  We shall call this person Red, for short.  

Red didn't have space in his or her attic or garage anymore so he or she offered the dishes to us.  "Of course," we said, and promptly stored them for someday.  Only now, someday is here and the dishes are so well stored that we can not find them.  

No, we did not find a box of dishes in the attic.  What we did find was a box labeled "Binders," in big friendly lettering.  It's my handwriting.  So, I thought I knew what was in there.  I thought that Red had also given us several perfectly good binders that he or she just didn't need anymore.  I remember the offer of binders.  And I, being the pack-rat that I am thought, I will squirrel away these binders until I have a big enough hoard of loose paper to put in them.  And so, I did.

Honey Bunch said, "There's a box of binders up here."

I said, "Binders?  We don't need no stinkin' binders.  Lets donate them to Goodwill."  (I have since come to the realization that I will not have a bunch of loose papers that need bindering.)

So, the box was brought down from the attic and opened.  Lo and behold, it did not contain binders at all.  It contained several Christmas decorations which I have been searching for for the past four years.

You can see the box, pictured above, with a lovely poinsettia platter peeking out the top.  A platter which my own mother lovingly painted and fired in her kiln.

You can see the top of a lighthouse which has been missing from my Christmas village for so long, I'm sure many little Christmas sailors have perished in shipwrecks caused by the lack of it's blinking beacon.

There were Christmas mugs and even a set of wooden letters, which you can see below.  We like to get Christmas messages and then switch the letters around to spell something weird.  It's a Christmas tradition at our house.  What?  Doesn't everybody do that?  Can you guess the Christmas message?

So, why the word Binders on the side of the box?  I expect that I removed the binders and donated them to Good Will.  Then, I packed up some Christmas items and was so exhausted from all that effort that I could not possibly be expected to re-label the box.  Or perhaps I could not find a magic marker.  Who's to say?