Christmas has come to our tiny apartment (which is not much bigger than this house!) and I thought I'd show you some of the vintage decorations we've found.
This charming little house was found on ebay. I placed it among my bottle brush trees including a favorite one behind the caroler which I love because it used to belong to my grandma Hazel.
The top shelves of our bookcases are always reserved for these little holiday vignettes. Here are some cute old Santas and reindeer. I especially love the old log cabin with the Santa head sticking out the chimney. The reindeer looking up at him makes me smile because he almost looks like he's thinking 'is he stuck again?'
This shelf is for the tiny village houses I found at the flea market. They are so charming and have holes in the back so you can light them up at night. The houses with figures in the yard are getting kind of expensive so I just hunt for little figurines and add them myself. Voila!
My little wall cabinet below is filled with mini merry makers - snowmen, snow babies, and Santas all no more than a few inches in size:
The next scene features a Steiff reindeer and a Santa by the Ino Schaller company from Germany. It is made from the same mold that Ino Schaller used over a hundred years ago to create the antique Santa candy containers so sought after by Christmas collectors.
The house above is another modern version of the ones so popular in the 1920's and 30's. The snowman was a Christmas ornament but I just snipped the string off and now he's the perfect addition to the snowy scene.
This Santa above was originally an ornament too but we found some of these little boxes at the flea market so I snipped off his hanger and glued him to one to make a cute little candy container.
The old plate shelf above our sofa is reserved for all those little Christmas odds and ends.
One of my favorite collections is the one below.
When I lost my dad a few years back I found I wanted to know more about his childhood and my ancestors so I studied a lot about Sweden and their Christmas customs. Since then I always hunt for vintage Swedish holiday decorations such as these Dala horses, Swedish angel chimes, and straw ornaments. It just makes me feel closer to my dad and our ancestors.
A Swedish Santa and a straw goat. I guess the goat was the equivalent to Santa's sled.
I love this little elf candle chime. The candle's heat causes his arm to raise up and ring the bell on the little pig's back. Pigs are a symbol of good luck in many European countries.
Another symbol of good luck in the coming year is to find a bird's nest in your Christmas tree. Rick and I actually found one years ago when we brought our tree home from the tree farm but since we only use artificial trees now we add a tiny one from my bird's nest collection and create our own good luck! Hope you've enjoyed seeing some of our Christmas collections. We have a little more but will save them for another day.
Happy Holidays!
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