I actually had an extra one,” she said. “So, I was able to send it to him and that's how he asked her to marry him. He actually had the ring with the Winnie the Pooh and he gave them both to her.” Her mom managed to retrieve him thankfully, but Deb jokes her life today would probably be very different had she lost him and moved on to a different soft toy. As well as the bear that started it all, a Winnie the Pooh costume is one of Deb’s favourite items. Deb has been supported in her endeavour by her husband, who often goes hunting around different stores with her to find new items. And so you have a faction of those people that say that. And then there's the other people that are like, ‘have fun with it’, you know, 'do the best that you can do and the most that you can'.

It took her nine years to finally get her hands on it but once she did, she also fulfilled her dream of playing Winnie the Pooh at Sears. Deb says one of the questions people ask her most frequently is what’s going to happen to her collection when she’s gone. Deb’s collection has become so much more than just having the items, she says she’s collecting memories. I had a habit of sleeping on him when I was little so he’s kind of squished, and you wouldn’t recognize him without his red shirt on, but I love him and he’s still with us.” There have been many Pooh costumes over the years, with characters in Disneyland and other places, but it was the 1980s version that had been used in the Sears department store children’s department that she had her heart set on.Winnie the Pooh is a classic children's character who has become a beloved icon worldwide. Created by author A.A. Milne, the character first appeared in the book "Winnie-the-Pooh" in 1926, and has since appeared in numerous stories, films, TV shows, and other media. Pooh is a friendly, lovable bear who lives in the Hundred Acre Wood along with his friends Piglet, Tigger, Eeyore, Rabbit, Kanga, Roo, and Owl. He is known for his love of honey, his simplistic yet wise outlook on life, and his unwavering loyalty to his friends. Winnie the Pooh's stories are timeless classics that have captured the hearts of generations of children and adults alike. The character has become a cultural icon, representing childhood innocence, wonder, and imagination. With his gentle humour and timeless wisdom, Winnie the Pooh continues to inspire and delight people around the world. As every item in her collection has to be unique, Deb will go through the things to search for duplicates.

It has been so such a part of our lives and we've just done things that we wouldn't have done if not for being the collector and being in the book.” If there are duplicates, Deb will replace the one she already has with the item donated to her, and donate or sell the older one.But when giving them up, they’d much rather pass the stuff on to Deb – someone who will truly appreciate the items, and as she says, “keep their memories safe for them too”. Deb says the reason most often is that people are downsizing and don’t have room for their collections any more.

But with more than 23,000 unique items in her collection, Deb had to come up with a good system to catalogue everything. The costume is also Deb’s most valuable item. It was so expensive that even though she’d wanted it for nine years, she took a minute to think it over before realizing she had to go for it. Hopefully the message that I give to people in the book is that when you set your mind to something and you go with it and have fun, who knows where it’s going to take you. She explained that when she goes to “the big honeypot in the sky” she’ll be donating the entire collection to a museum in Canada to honour the character’s roots. That same year, Hallmark released a new set of Winnie the Pooh ornaments, and Deb found herself desperate to have them.She managed to find three of the six in the store, and another treasure hunt ensued to find the remaining three.