I collected Christmas ornaments too. But after doing that for 30 years and then had to downsize on the tree, I ran out of room. lol
I can't say I "collect" stuffed animals as much as people gave me a few, and then they looked lonely, so they needed a spouse... oh and then some kids... oh and then the kids needed their own dollies or "action figures", and now it's to the point that two 1 inch stuffed animals need a dolly and an action figure but I can't find any that small and can't figure out how to make one that size. So, no more stuffed animals.
I collect herbs for our garden, because hubby likes to cook. Now, I have to bring in the bay and rosemary bush for the winter, and have to dry lots and lots of herbs, which will be collected into jars so hubby can still cook.
I collected "cool stones" from our travels. Not from stores, but from where we went. "This looks cool" from Ontario to Virginia and west to Illinois, but after all these years they just look like all the other stones. Well, each one has three or more colors in them, or a layer in the middle. My favorite is the outer form of a trilobite that lived, long ago in an ocean in Illinois. (Brother found the cast of an octopus arm in that same yard.) Most of my stones are used as stepping stones in a butterfly watering hole in the garden that's more often used by flies or bees. lol
When I was little, I had this huge, cheap plastic piggy bank. My mom had a carnival glass piggy bank and she was into saving as much money as she could to buy us Christmas gifts. We used to go to our grandparents' houses every weekend (Both grandparents, so they got us every other weekend. lol) We came home one weekend to discover we were robbed. The only things stolen was the petty cash, a camera and all our piggy banks. I didn't like my piggy bank, but loved Mom's. A while ago, I started collecting banks -- mostly piggy banks. The first one looked just like Mom's bank. I also have a "perverted piggy" bank. That's what the lady who made it called it. It looks like a Disney piggy, but is on its shoulder and head, holding a little mouse safely in its Arm. That means the slot for the money is on her bottom -- thus "perverted," but I think it's cute. lol I had to give up collecting them from lack of space too though.
And Mom believed heavily that everyone should have a collection of some kind, so, when I was little she collected for me. I have all the Beatrix Potter books and lead figurines, although hubby tried cleaning them once for me, and cleaned the paint right off most of them. (No hard feelings. He was trying to clean them for me. lol) When Mom died, she left another collection for me, except I was immediately whisked away back to Dad before Gram remembered them. About 15 years ago, I was united with the last of Mom's collection for me -- 8 framed illustrations of Beatrix Potter characters to go into the bedroom of the house she was trying to live long enough to move into. We never did. (Gram -- her Mom -- did though, since Mom's brother/Gram's son/my uncle was the builder of that house. The illustrations would have all fit into my bedroom. All these years later, and I still can't figure out where to hang them. Life changes. I'm almost 60 now, so exactly what statement does Jeremia Puddle Duck, Squirrel Nutkin, Peter Rabbit, and Benjamin Bunny say about me if I had them hanging in my house?
Collections are fun, but I'm not entirely sure if they're practical when I moved into a small house. (My downstairs is a bit smaller than that bedroom Mom was making for me. It's our living room/dining-room-turned-into-hubby's-computer area/kitchen, so that was one huge bedroom.)
