Clutter Free Travel Souvenir

I have found the impossible, a clutter free travel souvenir!

Do you have the dreaded travel souvenir knick knack that starts to invade your shelves and every inch of your open counter space? Everyone knows what I am talking about whether it is the collection of snow globes, key chains, magnets, postcards or shot glasses; there is usually something that everyone looks for in the airport kiosks that they take back home.

You have all been to a friends place (might even be your own) that displays the collection of knick knacks from all their travels. It starts out as something very small and a cute little reminder of a trip, but after a few trips the collection has begun to grow a bit out of control.

I must admit that I do have a travel knick knack that I get from every unique place that I visit. What complicates this is that I like to think of myself as a minimalist; I don’t buy things unless I need to and they add value to my life. Also, I really don’t like clutter, so I am grateful for the solution that can be credited to my mom.

My mom started buying Christmas decorations to hang on the tree from places we had travelled when I was a child. I think one of the first ones I have is the Cuckoo Clock from a typical German Christmas market. My mom loved wandering through these Christmas markets when we lived in Germany and I have very old decorations that have hung on my tree ever since I was a child. This has created a wonderful tradition to pass on to my kids as we decorate our tree and every time we go to somewhere new I get Christmas decorations for our family tree.

This travel souvenir fits perfectly in my clutter free home because it is only displayed for a short while during the Christmas season and fits into a nice small box that gets stored in the other months. But, the best part is the memories we share with each other as we decorate the tree together. This past weekend we put up our tree and we talk about where we went, what we saw, a funny story or a great meal we ate. If the kids are with us while travelling, we let them choose their decorations that will eventually be handed down to them for their family trees. With each decoration that we hang on our tree we reflect as a family on the moments we have shared together exploring the world.