Christmas on the 4th of July

On the 4th, The Breadman was in a state of decomposing on the couch.  1:00 in the afternoon, still in the clothes he slept in, slumped down on the couch with hair askew and half asleep.  I said, "I GOTTA GET OUTTA HERE!"  So, I headed out to to the booth to straighten up and take a few things out.  (***The Breadman has worked 60 hours in four days so he has every right to be tired and sit on the couch.  But, the slouching and PJ's are just TOO MUCH for me.  Thankyouverymuch.***)

After I worked in the booth and I was headed home, I spotted a BIG YARD SALE sign, so I followed it.  It was a holiday and late in the afternoon, but I thought I might find some little thing to make it worthwhile.  When I got to the sale BAM there were boxes upon boxes of stuff everywhere with a shed standing open with even MORE boxes in it.  But, just because you see lots of STUFF doesn't mean it is GOOD stuff, so I held my excitement in.  But, you know what?  It was good stuff.  Good old stuff without prices.  Screech.  No prices.  Hmmmm.  Did this mean high prices or low prices?  Did they need to analyze each item or was I going to get a box lot price?  You just never know, so I asked about one item to get a feel for it.  I spotted a chenille bedspread in a trash bag.  I decided to ask about it - the lady said, "Well, would you give me a dollar for it?"  Hellzya!  :)  That kind of let me know it would be affordable, but not entirely sure how affordable.  I grabbed a box and started loading up.  I was the only one at the sale, so it was nice not being concerned about what is over there or what did that guy just pick up?????

So, on to what I did buy and what I did pay for it.  When I sat down my box for the lady to start sorting, she picked up a vintage box with a babies gown in it and said, "You might not want pay what I want for this - I want ten dollars for it."  I told her I would see what my total was at the the end and decide then (that's my nice way of saying HELL NO).  Her husband looked at it and said, "It don't look like it's worth a quarter to me" and she almost killed him with a dirty look.  *snicker!  Anyway, that made me nervous about the prices on everything else I had found.  She picked up a small box of old tiny Shiny Brites, some spun cotton santas and a few other vintage Christmas things and said, "That'll be 50¢ for that box".  That's when I knew I was in business.  Yippeeee.  She stuck that baby gown under her chair, so I think she really had just meant not to out it on the table for sale.

MAN I TALK A LOT.

Like I said - on to what I did buy!

I spotted the small handmade basket first, but thought it might be pricey.  Wrong.  TEN CENTS.  Then I found the one that is in the process of being made and grabbed it for TEN CENTS too.  I think it's interesting to see how they are put together.  Maybe I can think of a project for it.  

Fun little things are my favorites to dig out of boxes. 

Each one of these little pots was in it's own little box marked EDNA and MARJEAN.  I didn't even look to see what was in them, I just bought them.  Turns out the flowers are picks for cheese or fruit.  Adorable.  

Cat bubble bath bottle, a fun old plastic truck, wooden handled cheese sliver, a great vintage scoop - I like to keep these in my sugar/flour canisters - three fun old metal candy tins and a plastic piggy bank from Dillon's Grocery Store.

The old drop cloth was originally 11¢.  Love the graphics on the package.  I think the rabbit head went in one of those plastic tubes that was filled with candy and junk.  Kind of like the M&M tubes they sell at the holidays now.  The fun old metal lids are from Onion Dip, Sour Cream and Mince Meat.  Hiland Onion Dip is still a staple at our house.  Mince Meat - not so much.

A fun old baby bottle bag.  Heat the bottle and take it with you.  

 All these hankies and towels were folded up in a neat little pile.  Love the scotty dog towel.

This stern lady potholder will go in my collection.

As I unfolded the hankies, I found a note or a gift tag inside each one saying who the hankie was from and what year they received it.  I wonder why everyone always gave this lady a hankie?  Did she collect them? Was she known all over town as "the lady with the runny nose?"  These are the questions I ask myself.  

All of this stuff is great, but here is why my day was made:

VINTAGE CHRISTMAS

********on the 4th of July! *******

Great old heavy honeycomb bell, a nativity in the vintage box, ceramic head angel, TWO spun head Santa's, a wee little spun head Santa and a spun head angel.  

The Nativity, a box of wee plastic clothespins, three spun head angels and a wonderful vintage NOMA Tree topper.

A box of Shiny Brites - not in the most perfect shape, but not in terrible shape either.  A wee box of wee ornaments - one of my favorite things to find, plus a fat handful of loose tiny ornaments.  

There are a few designs I have never seen before - like the aqua candles and the one with stars.  Don't they look like little delicious candies?

An ornament hanger box for my collection, a fun foil box and a foil star.  When I saw this star, I remembered that we always made a simple foil star for our tree.  I don't know why I never remembered that until now!

A kneehugger.  

Evil little chap, isn't he?  The lady said, "I thought he was cute, but my daughter said he was ugly."  A little bit of both makes him perfect to me.

I looked at these plastic ornaments three times before I realized they were the kind you put little scenes inside.  A handful of red Shiny Brites and some little baskets that were labeled "Nut cups for Bridge".  

My favorite find are these little plastic candles - mostly because I have never seen anything like them before. The tubes had little hard round candy balls in them.  There are still a few in there.  Each candle has a name tag on it.  You just don't see the name "Elza" nowadays much, now do you?

A yard sale on a holiday with vintage Christmas to boot.  

It was a GOOD DAY!

Hope yours was good too!