My Christmas Tree

We have two Christmas Trees - the bigger one with the family ornaments on it - creations from The Bean's Grade School Days, our ornaments that we buy each year, our First Christmas together ornament, Baby's First Christmas, etc. That tree goes in the front window.

But there is another tree in the living room. My tree. Completely and totally encrusted in vintage ornaments. Yesterday, The Breadman said that I could not possibly put one more ornament on it because it was so full. But, Ha ha on him - I thrifted eight more ornaments in the past two days and I managed to squeeze them on there.

Last year I still had some plain round vintage Shiny Brites on it, but this year, I am happy to say that I have found enough figural and indented ornaments that it is completely full of only those pretty ones.

I'd be hard pressed to pick out a favorite ornament. I love the spun cotton headed angels, the paper mache band, the indented Poland ornaments, the pine cone elves, the...the...the.......I just love them all.

I do have some favorites - just not A favorite.

This indented West Germany ornament is fabulous. It is indented five dips in. And, of course, the silver glass glitter doesn't hurt.

I found this old glass pine cone years ago when we were cleaning out a family members house. There weren't any other ornaments in the entire house, just this pine cone wrapped in tissue stuffed in a drawer.

Oh, my paper mache band. Love them! I have nearly twenty of them playing all different instruments. A struck of luck at a yard sale one day had me pick up a random Whitman's Sampler box and hear something inside make a rustling nose. When I peeked in the box, I spied a couple of the band guys. My heart leaped into my chest. I knew I had found a treasure! I paid 25¢ for all twenty guys and the tin.

Last week I was in the kitchen and I heard a noise in the living room. When I walked in to see what it was, I found this guy:

Laying in the floor wrestling with my feather tree which, at the time, I had all my band guys on. And, here's the worst part, he was eating one of them. I let out a shriek that let him know GET THE *^#* OUTTA HERE! Luckily, only one small hat fell victim to the big fat guy.

Now, this guy, this was last year's favorite find. I found him in the bottom of a box of random Hallmark, homemade and flat out ugly ornaments at the thrift. That I why I will dig through huge boxes and look at every.single.ornament in that box just in case there is one teeny treasure at the bottom.

Case in point - I found this yesterday at the bottom of a huge box of ornaments at the Salvation Army. A wee peanut man with chenille stem arms and legs. He makes me happy.

Heck, all my Christmas stuff makes me ridiculously happy. Why is that?

Wreaths Across America

This afternoon, The Bean and I went to our National Cemetary to see something awe inspiring.

Wreaths Across America came and laid a wreath on every single grave.

As far as you could see, white headstones and fresh evergreen wreaths.

A beautiful tribute.

So solemn. So serene.

Amazing.

Here's a video of the work it took to prepare the cemetary and lay out the wreaths. I would have loved to have helped volunteer do this, but I didn't hear about it until after the fact. If they do it again next year, The Bean and I will be there.

Vintage Christmas Monday - Santa Overload

It's Vintage Christmas Monday again over at Anything Goes Here. Be sure to check out all the other wonderful Vintage Christmas Goodies out in Blogland.

Last week I spotted this old box at the thrift store for $1.00. I knew something good would be in that box - Santa Novelties, Inc. Are you kidding me?

Inside was a dozen lovely glass ornaments. I don't think they've ever been used. I'm just going to leave them in the box and enjoy them as they are.

Okay, are you ready for some Santa's? Are you sure?

Santa's, galore! Woodland Santa's on the top - these are mostly Vintage Inspired and not really vintage.

But, these....these are all vintage.

Rubberfaced Santa's, Glittery Santa's, Bobbleheaded Santa's, Handmade Santa's.....

Santa's of all sorts and all kinds. I got that big Santa Mouse when I was five years old. I guess that makes him vintage. (And me too......boohoo).

An vintage Christmas Punch Bowl holds my Santa Mugs while more are stacked up beside it. I have all sorts and all styles of Santa mugs. But, I haven't found one in quite awhile. I didn't think much of it until last weekend when I saw an article in the paper about a local lady that has over 500 Santa Mugs that she has found at yard sales and thrift stores. So, that 'splains it.

And, lastly, my vintage Santa boots. My favorite one is the one on the far right. On the bottom it says, "To Joey, Love Mommie and Daddy, 1934." Too sweet! In the back you see The Bean wearing a vintage Santa suit and me on Santa when I was about six years old.

This isn't vintage - but I have to show my little girl kitty. She loves the Christmas tree. She lives under it the entire time it is up. She just lays there and looks at the lights. (Those skates are just an ornament - but man, they look huge!)

Merry Vintage Christmas Monday!

On My Mind

Due to the huge number of very negative comment that I have receive in the past, I rarely ever mention The Du*gg*ars. (If you are new to my blog - I have known Michelle since 7th Grade.) But, I need to mention them tonight. Their latest baby girl was born last night - three months early and only weighing 1 lb. 6 oz. Michelle suffered from Gallstones and was airlifted to the hospital last weekend after the Gallstones began contractions. She also had Preeclampsia which could have been deadly for her, so the doctors performed an emergency C Section. A lot of people are using this to say terrible horrible things about this family. This family of which I know are good, good people. A family that gives and give to everyone they know. I come from a family that had a very premature baby born - I know it is a long hard road. Our sweet baby didn't make it. But, technology has come a long way and everyone sounds optomistic. But that is one very small baby that needs one very big miracle. Baby Josie needs our thoughts and prayers.

Wacky Wednesday Finds

When The Bean was in public school, his class would go to a lot of plays and events at the Arts Center. I always chaperoned on those trips and I was even a Substitute Teacher for a few trips. ("Stay close to Miss Shara, I don't want to lose anyone!" I would say. I seriously freaked those poor kids out thinking that I would forget them when they went to the bathroom!)

We both missed our culture "Fix". I decided to pick up the phone one day and call to see if Homeschool kids could ever come to see things. "Why of course!" they replied. The best part is that it only costs $2.00 a person to go see these things! Last month we went to see an African Drumming group. That was very interesting. Today we went to see "The Best Christmas Pagent Ever". It is a really good play and book if you aren't familiar with it. The Herdman kids are known as the town bullies. They are dirty and wear torn clothes. They get a Welfare basket. Child services frequents their house. The other kids dislike them, mostly because they don't understand them. The Herdman kids start going to Sunday School because they hear they serve Twinkies as refreshments. The decide to get involved in The Christmas Pageant so none of the other kids want any part of it. Everyone assumes that the Herdman kids will make it the WORST Christmas Pageant EVER, but, in fact, it ends up being the BEST Christmas Pageant EVER. It was really well done and we enjoyed it very much.

Before the play started, I had just enough time to run into the Hospital Thrift Store near the Arts Center. I have been going to this thrift since I was a little girl, but I don't get there very often anymore. When we walked in, the lady at the register told me that it was "Wacky Wednesday" and they had some specials. All Christmas clothing was half price (No, thank you) and all the glass Christmas Balls were half price. (LET ME AT 'EM!)

The very first thing that I spotted was a....vintage...tree...topper. A PINK vintage tree topper, at that! My first! I say my first, because I need more. Maybe twenty or thirty. But, for now I have ONE! It was $2.00 and I got a long lecture from the Wacky Wednesday Woman about how "a man brought that in yesterday and said it was in his Mother's attic and he remembered it being on their tree for at least 60 years." Odd that he was so sentimental about it as he donated it to the thrift store. Ahem. Anyway, I love it and it will be in my house for 60 years. (Yes, I do plan on living until I am 103. Thank you for asking.)

I bought all the glass ornaments that were in the entire store. You would think since they had deemed it an item to feature for Wacky Wednesday that they would have had troughs full of ornaments. But,they only had two small plastic bags and two boxes of ornaments. Odd, right?
But, the ones I found are completely awesome! These were in the two plastic bags for 75¢ and $1.25 each, but half of that. (I do so love seeing people try to figure out half of 75¢.)

I love the boxes that say "Made in America". The ornaments say "Made in USA." As you can see, these boxes were $1.00 each, so I paid $1.00 for both. I don't have any boxes like this one, so I had to grab them.

I paid $4.00 total for everything shown. A well spent $4.00, if I do say so myself. I really have enough ornaments, I suppose. But, as long as I can find cool old Shiny Brites and indents and figural ornaments for cheap - I will bring each and every one of them home. Each and every one!

Pinecone Elves

I used to watch Martha, but our local affiliate chose to dump her and replace her with that purple glove wearing Dr. OZ. Gag. I don't take Martha's magazine or frequent the website either. Everything always looks so perfect and requires a huge list of very specific craft items. I have enough ideas of my own brewing in my head for that sort of pressure.That is, until Sarah showed these fabulous Pine cone Elves from the Martha Website about a month ago. Eh gads! I had to make some!

I didn't have any pine cones on hand, so I jumped in the car and went Pine cone hunting. Apparently it wasn't quite time for them to be on the ground yet because I couldn't find any. I ended up twisting them off the branches from inside my car by the side of the road. They were still pretty tight and not yet opened. But, they would have to do.

I printed out the patterns and went to work. Mine look a bit different than Martha's - but I happen to like them quite a bit. I chose to use spun cotton heads instead of wooden beads to give them a vintage look.

I must say, sewing teeny tiny elf shoes is a hoot. I had to stick a ballpoint pen inside the shoe to keep it open while I sewed on the white trim.

Those pompoms on the shoes are so teeny. I bought a bag of 100 of them last year after Christmas for 9¢ not knowing what on Earth I would ever use them for since they are sooo tiny. Now I know.

The hat, scarf, mittens and shoes are all made out of less than a quarter of a piece of 25¢ felt. The trim on the mittens and hat is one half of one pipe cleaner. The arms and legs are on e pipe cleaner. The pine cones were free and I had the heads on hand. So, it is a super cheap project. (Even though Martha suggests actually ordering and paying good hard money for pine cones) And, super fun. Not to mention super CUTE!

I must make a pink one and maybe a white one and maybe a .........

Vintage Christmas Monday

...and Tuesday, and Wednesday and.....pretty much every day until Christmas if you know me.

I moved last week's temporary display to it's actual holiday home. I like it here.I was having a terrible time getting it all to fit in just right, so I cheated and printed off the photo from last year as sort of a blueprint. It helped me get the bigger things just right then I could play around with the little dime store tsotchkes. I don't think I can squeeze one more thing in there. But, if I find just the right thing, I bet I can!

I found this old rubber face Santa at a yard sale about ten years ago when I very first started buying vintage things to sell on ebay. I bought him to sell, but - big surprise here - I feel in love with him. He stands about four feet tall. Can you believe I only paid $2.00 for him?????

Lastly for today's Vintage Monday Post - Here are my vintage Christmas tablecloths. I've made a vow not to buy any more Christmas tablecloths and so far I have stuck to that rule. But, if I find a cutie with elves or Santa on it - it's coming home with me!

Speaking of home - here it is after one afternoon of hard labor. (Sorry for the blur...) See that line of colored lights across the roofline? The Breadman did that. I did everything else. At the same time. In the same amount of time.

I hung up the wreath, added the sign, put the Evergreen garland and lights around the door. He put up those colored lights.

I gathered up all my Santa blowmolds ala Magpie Ethel and arranged them just so. I added in more Evergreen Garland, more lights and vintage red wooden beaded garland. I added the big Santa blowmold to the old window with some more Evergreen garland. I set up the tree and decorated it with rusty decorations and lights. He put up those colored lights.
I've picked these blowmolds up for years - usually for 25¢ to 50¢. This is the first year that I have actually used them. I hope Laurie won't mind that I borrowed her idea. To make up for it, I will gladly send The Breadman up to her house to add some colored lights to her roofline. :o)

Don't forget to visit Anything Goes Here to see the all the fun Vintage Christmas posts!

Christmas Funny

This is soooooo our house!

Slowly, But Surely

The decorating is coming along. Slowly, but surely. I got along with gusto and great guns and them BAM I hit a wall and I am D.O.N.E. for the day. Sometimes I get another burst of energy about 10:00 pm, but I try to fight it. Otherwise I'd probably stay up all night watching E.L.F. and Christmas Vacation playing with my pretties.

I like piddling with the little details once everything is all set up. It's the setting up that gets tiring. For instance, since we reconfigured the wall unit, I have a different configuration of shelves. Which works great for my "mostly" Grocery Store village. It just took me a very long time to get it just right. And, I'm not certain it is just right yet. The top shelf is still a bit wonky. And the trees aren't plugged in yet. But, it's getting there.

I do like this - an old Santa in an old clock cabinet. I put him there last year, but the Gurley Candles on top are a new addition. I wanted them to stand out 'cause I lurve 'em.

This idea came to me as I was drifting off to sleep last night. I put all my kneehuggers on this old ladder. This is an odd angle, but it is hard to photograph. I love the big guy in brown pants on the top shelf. He's pretty darn cute.

My Annalee Santa's. Oh, I know there are people out there that hate Annalee Dolls. Trust, me I've read the blogs. But, I adore the holiday ones - the smaller ones like these three Santas. I found all three of them at the thrift one day for 50¢ each and I was one happy camper.

It took me half the morning to repair my tree vintage ornament wreaths. I put them in plastic Ziploc bags for the winter - those huge giant bags - and hung them on the garage wall for safekeeping. But, someone, no names mentioned...*cough*...Breadman...*cough* moved them and they got crunched. Luckily, I had bought up each and every old and slightly old ornament I could find all summer so I fixed them all. This one is may favorite. It's not perfectly round, which is why I like it. I think it looks good on my old window.

Tomorrow I will get up with a new burst of energy and probably get everything done except for the tree. That is a family project. Whether they like it or not......

And there's the outside to do yet. It seems that every day the Breadman is off work, it rains. Figures, right?

So, how's it going at your house? Slowly, but surely, I hope.

Tuesday's Thrifty Finds

I need a new Christmas tree. Okay, maybe I don't need a new one, but I want a new one. We have two options at our house - a shorty five foot tree that I have to put up on an old beekeepers box to make it look 7 foot tall in our window or the huge fancy pre-lit After Christmas bargain I scored a couple of years ago that literally fill up the living room. One is way too small. One is way too big. I recently discovered the new Slim trees. And, I want one. I need a 6.6" slim tree. And, I need to find one at the thrift. So, I went looking today.

Stop #1: The thrift that had a pile of trees still in their boxes last week before I decided I wanted a new tree. CLOSED

Stop #2: Newer thrift in town that recently expanded to twice it's size. Found a slim 6.5 foot tree, bu it was $25.00. That seemed a bit pricey to me for a used tree, so I passed. At Stop #2, I was so excited when I walked into an entire room chock full of Christmas items. Not just a table full or a shelf full - but a room full! I took my time and looked at every single thing. But, nothing appealed to me. BooHoo.

Stop #3: Salvation Army. No trees that fit the dimensions on my wishlist. But, I found a 7 foot tree for....$75.00. Holy cow!

No tree for me today. (Said Soup Nazi style). But, as usual, I found a few good things.

A vintage California/Disney serving tray. I so do not like Disney stuff. But, this has character. Etsy bound.

A vintage seed bag from a Watermelon Seed Farm for $4.00. It's really big - probably a 100 lb. sack. Not sure what I will do with it, but bringing it home was a no brainer.

Three vintage poinsettias with Mercury Glass beads in the center. I found all three at the Salvation Army for a total of 80¢. To find anything vintage at the SA is a miracle in itself, but to have only paid 80¢? Now, that truly is a miracle!

This fabulous piece of vintage pottery was $2.25. It's just the kind I collect and in my new favorite color - pink!

Tomorrow I'm off to a few more thrifts in search of a tree and maybe a few more treasures. Then it's back home because our first bout of sleet and snow is coming. Ick. At least I will get my decorating mo-jo and get this place decorated!