When my mother passed away, my brother, sister and I spent a day going through everything. We put all the photos on the dining room table, bought a pizza and some beer. Then we told stories, laughed, and cried, choose a few items to keep and then trashed the rest. It was a good way to put closure on our loss. My mother-in-law story is a bit more complicated. I'll save that for later. Thanks for sharing your experience.