Merry Christmas everyone! As an avid Christmas collector I am ecstatic to be able to blog about my collections and decorations, and I love having the opportunity to share my love of vintage Christmas with so many of my new friends here in blogland! I am behind on getting my posts up because it took me well over three weeks of constant decorating before I was satisfied enough to take some pictures, and I am still putting on the finishing touches in some spots, so for now I am breaking my posts up in small sneak peaks before my big Christmas reveal.
I have been collecting Christmas since I was little girl, and this year was especially productive as far as pickin' and junkin' for vintage Christmas goes, so at this point our house is beginning to look like a Christmas shop!
Here is part one of the sneak peak, starting with some of my most favorite finds of the year:
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"We are Santa's Elves, filling Santa's shelves, with a toy for each girl and boy oh we are Santa's elves!"
My perfectly vintage Christmas starts with knee hugger elves hiding here, there, and everywhere...
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This little guy used to belong to my grandmother. He is sitting in a handmade ornament trimmed in vintage tinsel that I purchased for $1 at my favorite primitives shop.
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| another similar one is on our largest tree |
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| Part of my addiction to estate sales is finding little treasures like this knee-hugger for .25! |
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Some of the knee huggers are kinda creepy, but this little duo is just the sweetest pair!
Until they get hyped up on coffee and start making elf mischief!
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(There are more elves hiding around the house, but who knows what they're up to! I'll try to catch them for the next post)
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...May your days be merry and... SHINY BRITE!
Now I know you junkers out there understand me on this one...you can NEVER have enough Shiny Brites or old mercury glass ornaments!
A bowl of vintage Shiny Brite ornaments collected from various estate sales and flea markets is part of this year's centerpiece
1920's mercury glass garland for $1 at a yard sale and a little white tree...Merry Christmas to me!
...and more old ornaments...a whole tree full of my grandparent's ornaments from their first tree as newlyweds 57 years ago, and also ornaments that belonged to my Dad when he was little. I am so blessed to have these!
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| I used a white tree to really show off all those retro pink and teal ornaments |
Another little cream-colored tree is filled with more estate sale finds, including some older ornaments from the 1920's-40's.
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| Just bought this little reindeer for .25 at an estate sale this past weekend |
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| Under the tree are lots of Christmas treasures too! I love them all, but the little fireplace is my favorite. It has a "real flickering fire effect" ( actually just a red light blinking on and off which is totally retro!) |
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Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas... when you see tons of tacky Christmas blow molds stuck out in the middle of someone's yard with no rhyme or reason to the design, such as a large Frosty The Snowman standing in place of Joseph in a Nativity scene, and a reindeer on top where an angel used to be!!! Nevertheless, even though there is an element of pure tackiness to them at times, those older light-up Santas and snowmen are synonomous with Christmases past. I think they are beautiful when they are displayed right. I choose to use the blow molds inside and they just seem to add Christmas magic wherever they are. My love of blow molds started with vintage Halloween decorations, but now I have acquired quite a collection of Santas and Christmas candles. Here are just a couple of beauties:
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| Small Empire brand Santa from the 1960's. I decided to put him in place of a candle in an old Christmas floral arrangement on the ledge in my dining area. |
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This Kris Kringle casts the perfect glow in the room and illuminates the vintage bulbs on the garland on the banister. Something about the lighting effect is just like stepping back in time.
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Oh bottlebrush tree, oh bottlebrush tree, how vintage are your branches!
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What would a vintage Christmas be without bottlebrush trees?
...and a big old Victorian Santa holding a bottlebrush wreath full of shiny bulbs?
But the best treasure in the house is this little one in the kitchen making merry Christmas memories!
I hope you enjoyed part one of my sneak peak. I am working on part two now and should have it up in the next day or so some stop back by for lots more!
Its nearly nine feet, and stunning to see!
