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.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

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?

4 comments:

  1. To answer your question: Because we have the ridiculously happy Christmas chromosome. And to comment on your post: I'm looking at my tree, and I think it needs a lot more decorating now that I've seen yours. It's just fabulous.

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  2. I had to put up a second tree this year for all my thrifty finds. I agree, the digging in the boxes is the best part. I've found several vintage Japan ornaments that way. I love your tree and that peanut man? He ROCKS!

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  3. That is where I find my best stuff, at the bottom of the box! I even like the broken pieces that are considered junk in the lawnsale boxes marked "Free", because I can always use them in one of my collages. Most of my vintage pieces have been Goodwill, church sales or lawnsales, and every one brings a smile. I think you would like my 1960's tree and my post about a cat and a tree and a lot of broken ornaments. Merry Christmas.

    ReplyDelete
  4. that's a lot of ornaments on a tree.

    ReplyDelete

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