People have collected stuff for a long time. I don’t know that for a fact but I see no reason that it should be just a current day phenomenon. It amazes me why people collect what they do. Some folks collect art, some collect dolls, some collect stamps. Collecting stamps seemed to be pretty big when I was young. I tried it for awhile. Of course collecting coins used to be big too. My grandmother used to collect buttons. That all seems to be pretty normal stuff to collect and I can see why folks would do it.

It’s the strange stuff people collect that makes me wonder. I had a friend who collected empty cans of black olives. He’d eat all the olives first then wash the cans and stack them up. Said he liked the labels. He probably had fifty or more of them in a cupboard. He also collected the cardboard tubes from toilet paper rolls. I found that to be a bit weird. I once knew a guy who seemed to collect wives. Knew a gal who collected husbands too, so apparently it’s not a sexist thing.

I recently stumbled upon a collectible that I think I can get into. Cigar boxes. I’ve always admired the art work in the labels. When I was in North Carolina a couple of weeks ago visiting family, I noticed an attractive cigar box on the counter in my sister’s kitchen. My first thought was that maybe she had taken up the habit. I have enjoyed cigars over the years but never have bought them by the box. Out of curiosity I asked her about it. She laughed and said she used it to store some things in. I asked where in the world she got them and she said the cigar store sells them for a couple of bucks a piece. She them gave it to me along with another. My eyes lit up.

Over the Thanksgiving weekend I was in Santa Fe and came across a cigar store. Every once in awhile I’ll treat myself to what I think is a good cigar so my brother-in-law and I ducked in to see what they had. Low and behold, there were a couple of stacks of empty cigar boxes for sale. I asked about them and was told the nicer wooden boxes were five bucks and the cheaper ones were three, help yourself. I could hardly contain myself. I sorted through them all and picked out two of the five dollar ones to take home along with a couple of Macanudos (my favorite cigar) to enjoy later. Those cigar boxes will be real handy to store my gold leaf in.

Don’t forget the Merriment on Main Street Festival this Saturday from 3:00 to 5:00 followed by the Parade of Lights. See you there.