Family Work Weekend

Just two days in Stockbridge, but a good solid visit. Ann and I worked on clearing out common space, a back hall that includes the second staircase to the third floor - kind of a safety issue in one way. Long ago, it was the Ironing Room. An ironing board was set up next to a window, and we teenaged girls could clear it off when needed.
Then, when our kids were small and Christmas was a big gift orgy, it was the Present Wrapping Room. An ironing board is a good surface for wrapping a gift. This led to piles of recyclable, shiny, beautiful sheets of slightly wrinkled paper. You can iron it flat. Ann put some in a large dresser that also holds ribbon, gift tags, tape, scissors, tissue, etc.
It used to be you had to schedule time there so you wouldn't be watching someone wrap a gift for you.
When gift bags came in, they seemed to have copied our father's idea. He wrote our names on tissue paper wrapping and put the whole thing in a plastic bag. Now, gift bags from the dollar store have an entire shelf. Fewer gifts and hardly anyone spends the time constructing a presentation piece. Ann still makes a few works of art.
Most recently, our mother took over to try to organize her boxes of stuff. She believes she can find the proper, best home for many an otherwise unappreciated thing. Her brother, who is still religious, might get a box with lovely framed portraits of the Virgin Mary, St Joan, and Galahad, several rosaries, and assorted religious books and pamphlets. No matter that he and his wife have recently moved into assisted living. After all, they still have their house, as well, and their children are good Catholics.
That box, along with several others, went into the bedroom just beyond the hallway, the "sleeping porch" that she and my father occupied for decades.
The wrought metal child's doll sleigh and the heavy rolling chair went into the attic.
We found a stack of pillowcases in a small cabinet otherwise filled with new bedspreads.
And when we were finished, we brought a stack of lightly used calendars down from the attic for her. 
2003, 1997, 1986, 1975, and 1969 (none a leap year) start January 1 on a Wednesday, as does 2014.