Hello, my name is Deanna, and I am addicted to Christmas and all things vintage. There, I said it. But really, is that so bad? Heaven knows, there was never such a perfect combination. The two go together like Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye, like Rudolph and Clarice, like Clark and Ellen, like- well, you get the picture.
Actually, let me show you the picture, errr, pictures of how I have combined these two loves in our happy holiday home.
We start first with my work in progress- the dining room. It was the last of our rooms to be decorated for Christmas this year because we hosted Thanksgiving at our house a few weeks ago. So I needed to wait on putting out the Christmas-y pieces in that room until after Turkey Day had passed. That is the one room that I always try to make as old fashioned-looking as possible for Christmas.
Here, our entry-way Santa is watching over my newly acquired and fairly old Shiny Brite collection. The Santa was a Nashville Flea Market find from two years ago. And my father-in-law hunted down the Shiny Brites this past summer at various rummage sales. He has a real knack for getting a good deal, and it's a good thing, because vintage ornaments can run up a bill quickly, especially if they are in good shape.
I filled big glass bowls with all sorts of old ornaments and sat them around on the table.
And I saved the really special ones for the tree. The Shiny Brites shaped like Santa and Snowmen are especially rare. I was super surprised to see these in one of the boxes I opened this year!
And there are still a lot of old ornaments that actually declare the greeting "Merry Christmas", and while they may not be as rare, it's certainly still refreshing to see. I sprinkled these all over the dining room tree too!
And here is a look at our dining room hutch. Oh yes, there is a lot going on here. Just the way I like it! The Christmas Carousel is another yard sale find. I'm sure it cost less than a dollar. It lights up and plays music too!
This gravy boat stays out year round, but check out the cute little hanky under it. I snagged that for $1 at the Nashville flea market back in October. It is embroidered with a Santa and Christmas bells.
The Tom and Jerry egg nog set is an eBay find. It is from the 1940's, made by Hazel Atlas. A Tom and Jerry is an eggnog drink, traditionally served between Christmas and New Year's. I just checked and there are actually quite a few reasonably priced sets very similar to this one on eBay as I type. :)
The Howard Holt hot chocolate set is another eBay find. My set has a pitcher and six cups. I first saw a similar set in an antique store a few years ago. I didn't purchase it, and didn't know anything about them. But I did some checking later, and learned that there are actually lots of variations of this same set. But the winking Santa is very popular. These were made in the 1950s.
And for a little "vintage-inspired" fun, I added this folding card featuring all of Santa's reindeer (including Rudolph himself) along the back of the hutch. I stumbled onto this find on Etsy last year, and didn't really know how or where I would use it, but I knew it had to be mine.
Now, the dining room isn't the only place I added some old Christmas charm. These cuties are tucked into our main Christmas tree in the living room. And neither are actually ornaments! John and I found these at a little old antique store out in the country a couple years ago. The Mickey Mouse is an old stuffed child's toy and the Frosty mug is just that. It's a mug- but I like it nestled into the tree. Both were made in Japan, which is a true indicator of their age.
And we scored these little ornaments at the vintage shop Misty blogged about recently in this post. There are at least eight of these scattered on our tree- angels, santas, dancing mice, and as you see here: clowns and toy soldiers. The set rang in around $2.
I also purchased a set of two angel dolls from the same shop, on a completely separate shopping trip. These were also made in Japan, and cost $8 for the two. I tucked them both into the branches of our tree. I just love non-traditional ornaments!
And finally, I have also wound several of these old sets of jingle bells on red leather strips into our tree. These are actually hiding in with some of the other yard sale ornaments that we bought this summer, so I just decided they were welcome to join the tree too.
Now to just string some popcorn and cranberries, and this old fashioned Christmas will be in full swing!
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