Avoiding tchotchke hell

If you have ever been inside my house, you will notice that there isn't a lot of extra stuff.  I don't have rooms that you can't walk into, I don't have furniture that you can't put your feet on, and I don't have a curio cabinet.  To put it bluntly, I hate tchotchkes.  I just can't stand useless stuff.  I guess I am too pragmatic.  Now, don't get me wrong, I love photographs and art on the walls.  I just can't stand stuff that sits around and collects dust (or could get broken by a kid playing or a wagging dog tail).

Avoiding tchotchke hell is even harder with young children.  The paraphernalia of Easter baskets and Christmas stockings is regarded as a treasure, but finds itself stuffed in a drawer with a hundred other items that no longer grab their attention in the moment.  Now, my kids are pretty well trained to not request grocery store checkout isle items (unless it is gum).  But, they often lose themselves in the tchotchke hell of a circus, Disney event, or toy store.  Walking through these "choice overload" areas proved so stressful for Bella when she was younger that we have gotten pretty good at distracting her from them or just avoiding them altogether (thank goodness).  And, Scarlett is so easy-going that she doesn't mind not getting a "thing" and is happy to just be with her people.  

Living in a city that caters to tourists means being constantly surrounded by tchotchkes and the people who push them.  The first few days, I just had to give the kids the freedom to roam the vendor stands in the many open air markets.  They quickly realized that the vendors all sold pretty much the same things.  Because we are here for so long, I did't feel rushed to purchase mementos for the kids.  I told them that if they were still interested in something in a few weeks, we would consider buying it.

Now that we are into our third week in Florence, the kids and I have both gotten a sense of what they are drawn to and what they would enjoy as a keepsake from their trip to Italy.  Now, I love getting a piece of nice jewelry when I travel to a new and exotic place.  Every time I wear those fun pieces of jewelry, I am reminded of my travels and the experiences of that journey.  So, as we have walked over the Ponte Vecchio countless times we have window shopped at all of the tiny jewelry stores that sell gold.  The gold shops on the Ponte Vecchio are deeply rooted in the history of Florence and date back to the time of the Medici family.  The bridge was originally occupied by butchers and fish vendors.  However, as the Medici family walked the passage between city hall and their Pitti Palace, they were repulsed by the smell of the discarded scraps from these vendors' stalls.  So, the Medici family uprooted the butchers and meat vendors and moved them to an alternate location.  They then congregated the goldsmiths to the shops along the Ponte Vecchio.  This afternoon I bought each of the girls a small pair of gold hoop earrings from a Ponte Vecchio goldsmith.  These timeless keepsakes are a meaningful token of our time in Florence and really embrace the history of the city.  

So, as we arrive home from Italy we will not be bringing gobs of "stuff" with us. In addition to not having a bunch of tchotchkes for ourselves, we will not have a "throw away" gift for everyone that we love.  Please don't be offended.  Know that instead of shopping our way through Tuscany, we have instead filled our minds with images of the many masterpieces, our bellies with delicious food and wine, and our hearts with love for a land that is new to us.  In addition to saving myself from tchotchke hell, I am kind of saving you from it too!