Attic treasurers

If you've ever lived in the south, you know that attics are furnaces in the summer, so we're happy that the weather is a little cooler - 60's rather than 80's. Mom has been wondering what is up there and wants to get it all cleaned out so my DH gets the tallest ladder and prepares to climb through a small hole in the ceiling. If I had been thinking I would have taken a photo - it's not at all like a northern attic - the entrance is seriously a framed out square in the very high, I'm guessing 12', ceiling. DH climbs up and stands on the top of the ladder, making me very nervous, and still has to hoist himself up through the opening. In the attic which is about 5' high at the tallest part of the pitched roof, there's no floor, only a few boards that Dad placed across the cross beams, so you have to be careful not to step through the ceiling! No light either so DH is up there crawling around on these makeshift catwalks with Mom's tiny flashlight trying to drag boxes, trunks and suitcases over to the opening and pass them down to me without anything crashing through the plaster ceiling. What a sweetie! One of the suitcases has this fabulous silver Christmas tree with turquoise and silver ornaments that we had in the living room in the 60's.

There's also a full size green tree that we bought at about the same time whose box has fallen apart but the tree is in great shape.

Other Christmas items included this sweet tin garland, the Styrofoam snowman, one of my favorites growing up, some bows and paper and these cool flocked roses that my Aunt used as package decorations.

As we passed down box after box, my Mom kept saying, “Why would he keep all this stuff?” And I kept saying “Oh COOL!” :) There are the cardboard suitcases that my parents used on their honeymoon and on their trip back to the USA from Australia via India and England including passage on the White Star Line's Queen Mary I and the trunk that my Dad used when he went back to Australia to marry Mom. See http://abridefromdownunder.blogspot.com/ for this truly romantic story! Speaking of romance, inside the trunk are all the letters my parents wrote to each other during their WWII courtship plus one or two that Mom had saved from other American servicemen! Also in the trunk are my Dads Navy uniforms in pristine condition. Unfortunately, some things have to go back into the attic because instead of renting a van we drove down in a Civic and we still need to pick up some things from DH’s brothers house.