This holiday season, I want to share with you an idea I heard a couple of months ago from a man who attended one of my presentations.  He talked about how he and his wife are in the process of “rightsizing” their belongings and how they are passing on keepsake items, antiques and family heirlooms to the next generation.

He has created a tradition in his family that he calls “Grandpa’s Christmas Auction.”  Each year, when the grandkids are all gathered at his house, he hands out Monopoly money to each child and places items he is ready to let go of onto the dining room table.  He gives the children time to peruse the items, and then the auction begins!  Each grandchild can “bid” on items, and each item goes to the highest bidder!

What I love about this idea is that it not only lightens the load of the grandparents, but it finds a creative way to pass these items on to grandkids who have enough interest in the item to bid on it!  And, better still, the entire family is creating a memory by doing this activity together.

Someday, 25 years from now, those grandkids will be all grown up, and their grandfather might very well be passed on.  But they will look at those items they purchased at “Grandpa’s Christmas Auction” and remember not only their grandfather, but the fun times they had bidding against their cousins, winning the item, and the whole family participating in this fun activity.

So this holiday season, find creative ways to pass along items you’re no longer using – whether it’s a Christmas Auction like this one, or another creative idea.  Remember that even as you are letting go of the STUFF, you’ll be creating memories at the same time.  And that is the best gift of all!