Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Vintage Holiday Decor

My favorite holiday is Christmas hands down. I love decorating my home the day after Thanksgiving so we can enjoy the holiday that much longer.  The hard part of decorating for me is that I do not like anything you can buy in stores. It seems like everything is made of plastic or poor quality. So each year it's my mission to find old vintage Christmas items from my childhood.
My mom was a single mother trying to raise 2 girls. With  no help from anyone at all she made each Christmas as special as she could. Most of our decorations and Christmas ornaments were bought from second hand stores. And ever since I was a child I have had a special place in my heart for old Christmas items.

One of my favorite items is a tree skirt that my mother painted when I was very young. I now own the metal tin bucket (used for my garden items now) that she would keep her paint pens in. Metal pens with a round rubber end to pump. Remember those? Anyways I now own this and it's under my tree every single year. Its a favorite of mine and now my children.

 Next is another favorite of mine. I believe I found this in a little second hand store. My mother had one of these when I was little and I found this one in a tiny out of the way second hand store. It's so delicate and I am amazed it's lasted this many years. It was a ornament but I use it as a angel tree topper for a tiny tree by my front door.Love love love this one.
Last year I came across these lovely things. I paid about 25 cents for each of them. No idea if someone made them or if they were bought from a store. I believe they are from the 1940-50's. I am not a fan of plastic but looks like these were made from bits of plastic melted together. That's a form of recycling! My girls love coming home and seeing them above our garage.
A few years back I found these paper wall decorations for about 10 cents a piece. You can tell they were packed away in the dark because the color is just beautiful.  This year I took them in and had them laminated so they would last for much longer and be protected.

These two little things remind me of baby dolls I remember seeing as a child. Cutie Pies? Cannot remember their names. They are just adorable and I had to have them.
 And as you enter my home you see this adorable garland. I found this 2 weeks ago at the same second hand store. Its a vintage paper garland that says Merry Christmas. Paid a quarter for it. Love it!

Now last but not least I found a Santa that I remember us having when I was little. Its my favorite this year.

So how do you decorate each year? Anyone else out there in love with vintage holiday decor? Please share!

4 comments:

Laura Kaeding said...

Words cannot describe how much I love your decor. It's so happy, upbeat, and fun! I wish I had more like that! Just wow, gorgeous.

Surviving and thriving on pennies said...

Thanks Simply Green! I've always been a "flower child" as my mom says. She said I was born a generation too late and now i'm starting to think she is right. I love old stuff because it was made well to last for years. Now days decor is just flimsy and junky.

My home is also old and all my old things fit perfectly into it. My last house was very new and our stuff looked a bit eclectic in it. When we moved here it was like it was meant to be. Sigh...I love my home. It was built in 1967 and pretty much original except for the appliances. Step down living room, harvest gold counters, and pergo entry. We feel so shwanky!

Becky said...

We had a snowman just like the one on your garage when I was a child. They are made from some sort of plastic discs that have been melted together. I used to be fascinated with it. I don't know when they first started making them, but I remember that we got ours from some kids that were going door-to-door selling them (for some fund-raiser) in the early 70's.

Surviving and thriving on pennies said...

Wow, how very cool. I had no idea they were made in the 70's. They just always looked like something my grandmother would of had. Thanks for the wonderful information!