Holding on to Things, Things Holding on to Us

I've been preparing the children for donating some of their toys. I've given them the speech a couple of times now that goes something like this and is said with enthusiasm:

"Do you know how many toys you're going to be getting soon? New toys as gifts! First we have Mary's birthday, then John's birthday, St. Nicholas day, Christmas, and Epiphany! Wow! Now, we don't have enough room for all the new toys, so we are going to be picking some of our toys that we don't use much and we're going to donate them away to poor children who might not have any toys at all."

This morning I was giving them the excited speech in preparation, I hope, for doing the task this Saturday.

John looked at me, pointed to a bookshelf, and said, "How about we get rid of some of your books to make more room for our toys?"

I stammered and replied with a bit too much defense in my voice, "Those don't even take up any room!"

This is both horrifying to me as a bookworm and hilarious to me as a mother all at once. And--as a Catholic--there are some spiritual truths in it that I am just not going to think about at the moment! La la la la, I don't hear you!