Do people still use this term to identify those odds and ends of figurines and such which decorate our homes? Or maybe I should have said, “… that FILL our homes!” Well, at least for some of us (like me!)

What do your knickknacks say about you? About your family? Your lifestyle?

Are they collectibles? Antiques? Souvenirs from trips? Heirlooms? Pieces from bubblegum machines?

Do they sit on end tables or bedroom dressers? In curio cabinets away from tiny fingers and/or paws? Or do they fill every nook and cranny of available space to set them (like mine!): in front of books, on top of the microwave, on the windowsills?

When I think of the knickknacks which literally fill my home, I see trips to souvenir shops with my parents and then our own daughters. My favorites were and still are the cedar boxes to hold treasures untold. I also collected the tiny bone-china animal sets, the ones with the itty-bitty chains sometimes connecting a mother and two babies.

And when I think of those bone-china sets, I recall a wall shelf I had when we first got married. It was white with plastic gilt cornices, a mirror in the back, and little shelf areas on which to place my tiniest knickknacks. Several sets of bone-china animals sat there beside porcelain horses, many from my mother’s horse collection. It also held several ceramic animals, such as the cutest cocker spaniel puppy with long black ears.

And when I think of those ceramics, I remember the years my mom had a ceramic kiln in our basement. First, she poured the “slip” (the gray-beige liquid that turns into ceramics) into the molds. After the hardening process, she unmolded the delicate “greenware,” which we wiped with sponges and used a tool to scrape off the line from the mold. These were then fired in the kiln, a long wait for those of us anxious to begin painting!

And when I think of painting, I consider the plethora of paint types. If stains, the colors showed up right away: red was red, blue was blue. And they didn’t need fired again, just sprayed with a clear acrylic coat. If glazes, the colors could be confusing. Gray could turn white or blue when fired; pink could turn red or purple. The choices included pearls, crackle-tones, milk glass, and more. Those ceramic pieces made their way into the knickknack world as gifts for family and friends or on our own special shelving.

And when I think of that shelving, I remember the discarded displays my dad brought home from his job. Several of these shelves still sit in my home, filled with books. One brings a nostalgic sigh of wishing I still had it. It resembled an open hutch: two bottom shelves about four feet long and eighteen inches between, a shelf with the top piece sitting on it, and the top piece with multiple smaller shelves jutting towards the center from both sides. I created seasonal displays with my knickknacks on that top shelf.

And when I think of those displays, I think of how I recreated them on the sills of the bay windows in our current home. I place my animal knickknacks—such as a heavy plaster bear, plastic and porcelain deer, a bone-china skunk set from my youth, and porcelain ducks with bottoms intended for use as clothes brushes—amidst pieces of driftwood, pinecones, and silk flowers. A forest scene appears. Or maybe I choose the ceramic dogs and cats, Breyer horses and ponies, a couple fur-covered critters. A petting zoo style scene covers the sill.

Ah, knickknacks! Where else can I put them? Where can I tuck that black stallion figurine from Mom’s collection or that sweet resin cardinal I bought last year? And don’t even get me started on my Christmas knickknacks!

How about your house? Does it abound with knickknacks? Or do you follow the current trend to minimalism? Tell us a story about your favorite knickknack, past or present. Oh, my favorite? Too many to choose from, but this one says it all: a tiny stand-alone plaque with a bird and the words: “Home is where your story begins.”