What is a monkeybox?

When I was a little girl, we had a pet monkey named Amanda. My Dad worked in the produce business, so each night he brought home that days culls in a big box - spotty cucumbers, pithy apples, limp celery, moldy oranges and the like. We called it a monkeybox. It was really just trash, but my Mom would take each piece of fruit and trim it, pare it and cut it up to make a beautiful fruit platter for Amanda. Even though it was deemed trash by one, it still had life left in it and was good for the purpose we needed it. That's how I live my life - thrifting, yard saling, looking for another's trash to be my treasure.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Vintage Christmas Monday - Leftovers

Today is the last Vintage Christmas Monday over at Anything Goes Here. It has been fun seeing my love of vintage spread over blogland. Thanks for hosting, Joan!

I have a whole lot of little stuff to show today.

This is my Raggedy and and Andy. I got them when we moved to Arkansas in 1972. They have been near the top of the tree every single year since. And, they always will be!



I've seen these funny snowmen of a few other thrifty blogs this summer and thought they were terribly cute. Imagine my surprise when I found one in my very own stuff this year! It has a price tag from the Super Cheap Thrift - so I must have bought it and not fully appreciated it sometime in the past. He is appreciated now, I assure you!
I love this lamp so much that I leave it out all year. I almost forget that it is full of vintage miniature Shiny Brites because I see it everyday. I filled it up a couple of Christmases ago and decided it need to stay out. A little touch of Christmas every day!

This lovely vintage Shiny Brite box landed on my doorstep as a gift from a sweet reader. She said her husband asked her why on earth she was sending someone an empty box. She laughed, knowing I would adore it. She was correct!
This old stocking bearing the name, "Frank" is one of my favorites. I love the badly mismatched and unevenly glued sequins and odd felt cutouts. As much as I love FRANK -
I adore "Gertie". Honestly - how cute is the name Gertie?
This vintage Knickerbocker Gingerbread Man plays music while his head and arms move slowly. The Gingerbread Man book was mine when I was little.

I am forever picking up one old figural bulb or an ornament or a light reflector. Not enough to really display or make a project with - bits and pieces. Odds and Ends. As I came to each piece while I was decorating, I tossed them in a big bowl on the coffee table. Only when I went to dump it all out did I realize that I had actually made a pretty cool centerpiece.
I tweaked it a bit, added a few more things and wah-lah, it was done. I refer to it as "The Leftovers". It is actually one of my favorite things this year.

Merry Christmas to all the Vintage Christmas Monday readers that have stopped by the past few weeks. It was fun!

11 comments:

  1. Frank and Gertie crack me up. Last week I was at an antique store and there was a display of bicycle license plates from the 1950s and the names were pure vintage mid-century: Skip, Val, Del, Judy, Diane, Yolanda, Bud, Gloria. It made me giggle. :)

    that's one of the neatest Shiny Brite boxes I've ever seen!

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  2. I love all your vintage items. I laughed when I read the part about the box, because I completely understand. It looks so cute sitting out too. Have a wonderful Christmas.
    Blessings,
    Marcia

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  3. I love the "Leftovers" what a wonderful way to display all those odds and ends. Now I won't feel so bad about picking up more of them..I am adding to a collection.

    Huggs...............Linda

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  4. GOOD STUFF in that bowl!!

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  5. We are kindred spirts!! I too have a bowl of vintage figural lights! My favorite is a parrot I found on a strand of lights at our local thrift. I asked how much for just the light bulb and the guy thought I was kidding. He told me I had to take the whole strand of light for 1.00 or nothing....OKAY. if you twist my arm...hehehe!
    PS LOVE LOVE LOVE the shiney bright box!!

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  6. I like the box and your leftovers. I hate to see vintage things glued or painted, and I've seen too many bowls of plain round ornaments.

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  7. i love frank and gertie too! i have a vintage leather belt with the name fank on it and i actually wear it:)

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  8. Just hopped over from Joans, and am glad I did1 I love the lamp and the fact that you leave it out all of the time and the left-overs bowl is to die for!!! Merry Christmas! ~ Theresa

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  9. Love the "leftovers". They look so great together. The Frank and Gertie stockings are a riot! Thank you so much for participating in Vintage Christmas Mondays this holiday season.

    Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! xo Joan, your hostess

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  10. Love your bowl of leftovers! Your tree is so cute with all the vintage stuff on it.

    Merry Christmas!
    Debbie from NJ

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  11. That is the coolest Shiny Brite box ever. Never seen one like it. I'm pretty taken with the idea of a bowl of leftovers.

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