vintage holidays

Amber (kindly left a comment in the last post) reminded me of one of my own childhood Christmas memories in the not so (well, maybe so) distant past. Remember that year in the early 80s when it seemed like every child in the world had to have a Cabbage Patch Kid for Christmas? Honestly, I was a kid, so I probably can’t really remember the true magnitude of the frenzy. I just remember that I HAD TO HAVE ONE.

Now, 25 years later, I can appreciate what my mom went through to get me AND my sister a doll. (Mom likes to remind us.) And I will say that I have misty, water-colored memories of that Christmas — the year I woke up and saw that golden-haired doll with the pigtails and pink lace dress waiting for me. I guess it says a lot that I still remember that doll so vividly and even remember her name: Gussie Annette. You done good, Mom!

In honor of their 25th birthday, Cabbage Patch Kids re-released their dolls this holiday season with the exact same hair, facial expressions and clothing they had in 1983. Hope they didn’t recycle the names too! (Sorry, Gussie.)

After Master Aidan was born in 2005, I kind of knew he was going to be the caboose of the family, so to speak. When I was little, I always said I was going to have 10 children when I grew up. I’d still love to have those 10 kids in theory, but in practice, maybe not. Two kiddies, two parents. We try to keep an even playing field around here.

So anyway, we had little Aidan that July and I really wanted to make stockings for Christmas that year. Wasn’t really sure how at first. I just knew that ideally I wanted them to look somewhat vintage and I wanted to like them enough to keep using them until the kids are grown — in the hopes that one day they’ll be reminders of happy childhood Christmases and their mom’s limited sewing skills. (Read my soapbox about that topic in the previous post.)

Before I give you the 411 about crafting these stockings, let me just insert an opinion here: Applique and zigzag stitching is the greatest thing ever! I decided to sketch out my own patterns to applique and had a lot of fun mixing different fabrics. I used antique white felt for the stocking itself and lined it with green gingham. (Gingham is the other greatest thing ever.) I embellished each one with buttons and frills and big jingle bells at the toes for good measure.

Now the ‘monogramming’ was tricky. I don’t monogram, so I had to figure out a way to monogram without monogramming — hence, the tricky part. I found some small gold wire ribbon that I twisted into names and handstitched them in place with clear thread. Pretty smart, eh? (It took me forever to figure something out that would work. Don’t give me too much credit.)

Here’s some close-ups of the results…

I keep hearing that song on the radio. We have a station here that plays nothing but Christmas music throughout December (you probably have one of those too). Seems like every time I turn it on, Julie Andrews is belting this one out. I never really considered it a Christmas song or Sound of Music (one of my all-time favorites) a Christmas movie, but okay. Works for me. In the movie, I guess the children are preparing for a holiday concert if I remember it right. I’m way over-thinking this. Moving on…

My favorite things… I’ve kind of been on a hunt the last several years in search of vintage ornaments similar to those that were on our tree when I was a kid. My mother sold all our ornaments in a garage sale years ago. (She knows I love to give her flack about this.) We lived several states apart at the time, so I didn’t even know about the horror until long after the fact. Her reasoning? She wanted to ‘start fresh’ with the tree. And I get that, I do. But it kills me to think about it. I can still remember our tree vividly from all those Christmases growing up. My mom even HANDMADE a bunch of those original ornaments (felt gingerbread men, bells, santas, etc.). How could she sell them a decade later at a garage sale for 25 cents? Can you tell this is a sore spot for me? Don’t get me wrong. My mom is the greatest and she did hang on to sentimental things from our childhood. Unfortunately, the tree stuff — the stuff she made — just wasn’t among them. The upside is that the whole incident reminded me that stuff is just stuff. And it also made me realize that sometimes that stuff can hold childhood memories for the little ones we love most.

My kids may or may not grow up to be the sentimental sap their mom is, but in case they are, I’m making a conscious effort to keep small reminders of their past.

Favorite #1: Vintage Elf: Is he the cutest thing or what? Found him and a few of his buddies at a flea market last year. He’s a total flashback from my childhood. The cool thing is that at the base of his head he has this candy cane-wrapped wire that you can actually twist around the branch of the tree rather than your standard hooks.

Favorite #2: Vintage Stocking: Yep. This is the real deal. This held my very own loot from Santa every year when I was little. Mom held on to this one! It’s made from red felt and lace. Gold glitter sequins spell out my name. It actually inspired me to make handmade stockings for my own family that we now use every year. I’ll have to share them with you in a future post.

Favorite #3: Vintage Santa: Check out this jolly vintage Santa. I was able to grab him and an entire bag of his clones at an estate sale a few years back for $5! Score! Just like the elf, his hat is felt and he has that hard plastic face reminiscent of the 60s and 70s. He also has a fluffy spun cotton beard and his ‘made in japan’ label on the back.

Just as a side note, you’ll probably also notice in this photo that we have a ‘fake’ Christmas tree. I ADORE live Christmas trees. They are beautiful and smell wonderful. And I admire my friends that use them. I know that picking out the tree every year is a tradition for lots of families. If I had any sort of green thumb, I’d probably be tempted to go that route myself. But I don’t. And that makes them a pine-needles-everywhere, fire-hazard nightmare that scares me to death. So I’ll have to stick to enjoying them from afar.

Favorite #4: Vintage Christmas Place Card Holders: I keep telling myself that I’m going to use these at a big Christmas dinner, but so far it hasn’t happened. We usually go to the grandparents’ house for big family dinners, so I haven’t had the chance. I’ve also thought about using them in an altered art project. I found them in mint condition in their original box and couldn’t resist the urge. They’re really tiny. Only about 1-1/2″ tall.

I’m back! The surgery saga was a bit more involved than the doc had led on. The surgery wasn’t bad, but the 10 days in a cast up to my shoulder and now the month or more of physical therapy ahead of me were not anticipated to say the least. I’m more than a little perturbed at the doc for downplaying the post-op. But with the busy holiday season coming, not to mention a family trip to Disney World the week of Thanksgiving, I definitely have incentive to push hard with the PT and get full movement back in my hand and wrist. Typing should be an added help!

So I couldn’t let one of my favorite vintage holidays go by without posting. Halloween is #3 on my list of favorite holidays for decorating vintage. It’s only been in the past few years that I’ve really started collecting vintage holiday decorations. It is so much fun though! Let me share with you some of my favorite vintage and vintage-inspired pieces as well as some things that I would dearly love to add to my collection if I could just go crazy. Hope you enjoy!

I’m loving this Scaredy Cat vintage hanging decoration. His arms and legs are hinged.

And check out this rare valentine. It works double-duty for Halloween and Valentines Day. It just ghost-to-show-you, you never know what you’ll find!

What a hoot. This crepe paper tablecloth is vintage and a must-have for any spooky festivity. I could also see these adorable illustrations used in some altered-art projects. Hmm… Better beat me to it. You can find it here.

Treats are a must at Halloween! These vintage cookie cutters will make any goblin grin. These would be in my collection if I didn’t have a drawer full of cutters already. My clutter means YOUR cutters! Find them here.

Guess Who! These vintage masks are an especially fun blast from the past. Great way for little ones to play dress-up any time of year!

Lastly, here’s a view of my front door. Found this vintage-inspired garland at Target (believe it or not) several years ago. These spooky faces are painted wood cutouts with a glitter overlay. They’re strung by wire that’s pretty easy to twist and shape. I wrap it around my boxwood wreath that I keep on the front door most of the year, and voila! Spooky greetings!

Keep a close eye out for all those little goblins running around this All Hallows Eve! I’ll try to ’round up’ some costume photos of my wee ones to share with you this weekend. Happy Halloween!