My Love of Vintage Christmas goes way back!
Blow Glass Ornaments...
I have loved Blown Glass ornaments for as long as I can remember. I'm not going to say I threw a complete fit and laid in the middle of the store and cried over a Pinocchio ornament at the age of 8, but I'm not going to say I didn't either. That is the kind of love I have for Blown Glass. I will say that the Pinocchio ornament is still my favorite ornament I have in my collection!
I have ton of different blown glass ornaments in my collection so this year I figured I would use these two silver tinsel trees I found for a great price last year and cover them in some of my favorite ornaments. The hard part was deciding on what ornaments would make the cut. So here are some of my favorites that did make the cut!
The Frog Prince...
The frog prince was a gift from a friend back in the early 90's, She said even back then I was a hopeless romantic who believed in fairy tale love. Turns out she was right and I still do!
Sparkly Santa...
Santa is a newer ornament made by Department 56. I have him in red and green and they are the only two ornaments on these trees that aren't glass. How could I have passed on that great face and all that glitter!
CandyLand Soldier...
This guy here is also made by Department 56 and was a part of the Nutcracker collection from a few year back. He also reminds me of the Queen of Hearts husband from Alice In Wonderland.
The Guard...
I have no idea on this guys age, but I am pretty sure he and the sock monkey are up to something!
Special delivery gATOR...
Me and this guy fell in love at first sight. Who wouldn't want an Alligator in his Santa Suit ridding his bike on their tree?
There are a lot more ornaments on the trees that I could post but I will leave you with these for now.
Mirror Mirror on the Wall...
I wanted to do something different for the foyer table and mirror this year so I went with lots of ribbon and a few vintage style ornaments. The ribbons that were used are in shades of bubble gum pink, bold blue, bright green, and tangerine orange. These colors were all used in other areas of the Kingdom this year and just so happen to be very close to a lot of the wall colors around the castle also.
Ceramic Trees and Nutcrackers...
No Christmas in the Kingdom is complete with out ceramic trees. I have around 16 ceramic trees in my " Small" collection but this year we only used a few. You might remember back in the Fall I found a damaged tree and decided to paint it for Halloween, well I loved it so much I left it out for Christmas and just changed the bulbs to multicolored ones. The smaller white tree was a gift from my brother-in-law's mother when I first started collecting. She actually gave me this one and a really small one, both white. The best part is that she made them her self back in the late 70's.
Every Kingdom has its own Nutcracker right...
Back in November 1986 (I was 6) My new Grandmother (Step Grandmother) gave me a gift. It was strange to get a gift for no reason but I was a kid and I loved presents! I opened that box to find the greatest thing I had ever seen, next to Fievel the Mouse of course. It was a bright blue Nutcracker playing a red and yellow drum. He is still in my possession but he lives in the china cabinet due to his age. I needed to know more about it, well I would soon find out when I went to the Ballet to see The Nutcracker. It was then that I not only fell in love with Nutcrackers but also with dance. I continued to dance until 2008 and I still collect Nutcrackers to this day. The Nutcracker in the picture above was a collectible sold at our local production of the Nutcracker a Tale from The Bayou, Same story different setting. The other 2 were gift from friends I met over the last several years.
Excuse the cords I forgot to tie them up and hide them, It just shows I am actually human lol. Oh, and my gumball machine with all its coolness will not let me get gum out of it! This does not make me happy or my friends who put in their money lol.
Oh Silver Tree, Oh Silver Tree, how shiny are your branches...
So this guy is not in my foyer but he is in the area where I sit and do most of my blog post from, which is next to the foyer so he can join in. This was my first aluminium tree, he was a gift from a friend of my mothers. This year he is all decked out in his vintage blue and green Shiny Brites and a few new reproductions I have found. The tree skirt was a thrift store find this year that just needed a few repairs and a few new sequins. The skirt is made from felt with cute little kids decorating their Christmas tree spelling out "Twas the night before Christmas". I almost passed it up but a friend told me I would hate myself if I did; she was right I would have.
That is just about it for this part of the Kingdom. I hope you have enjoyed it so far. I do want to apologize for not posting this in early December or even before Christmas; I had a much busier December than normal and I promise to do better next year. But Until Then...