Oodles and oodles

Recently thrifted

 

Well, it's official. There's a terrible shortage of vintage Christmas ornaments at the thrift stores in my area this season. This is all I've been able to scrounge stopping at four local thrifts more times a week than I'd care to tell you.

 

I was quite excited because when I stopped at one of the thrifts today, there was a big table pulled into the center of the store just heaped with Christmas stuff. I did not find a single thing I wanted.
 
Every time I visit this store at Christmas, I remember the scene I witnessed there several years ago. A female employee was stocking the shelves with ornaments. She apparently didn't like the job, because she would ask out loud in a sarcastic tone "So how's the new job?" and then she'd lob one of the ornaments into the bin, like she was throwing a softball. It sounded like this: "So how's the new job?" CRASH. "So how's the new job?" PING. "So how's the new job?" CRASH. I should have intervened, but I was scared.
 
Only a few weeks after this, someone told me that occasionally people who were working off the community service portion of their court sentence were assigned to thrift stores. I don't know if that's true, but in this woman's case, it certainly made sense. It wasn't hard to imagine her lobbing a few rocks through somebody's front window.

 

OK, back to Christmas finds. It's hard to see, but I found a nice big pitcher with snowflakes. I don't think the glasses really go with it, but they were all part of the package. The glassware came from a shop operated by kindly church ladies, not recent parolees, so thankfully no drama was involved.

 
 

A little tree

 

The decorating isn't done by any stretch, although if anybody walked through the door, I'm sure they'd think there were more than enough decorations. The big tree is up in the living room, and this year we have a little tree in the dining room.

 
  
This is next to the Hoosier, which isn't decorated. (And really wouldn't have to be decorated, because it's got a little tree next to it, but it will be.) The little tree is reserved for pixies and striped Shiny Brite balls and bells.

 

No lights, just the garland I made the other day, and sun coming through the window to make it sparkle.

 
 
And a little band of musical elves at the base.
  
 
 
  
 
 

The best day of the year, or at least one of them

 

The day after Thanksgiving is just about the best day of the whole year. It's got all of the benefits of Thanksgiving (lots of food, clean house, kids home) with none of the stress. And it's the first day of the Christmas season.OK, probably Christmas itself, or Christmas Eve, is better, but this is a very close second.

We almost had a disaster on Thanksgiving, and it involved this wreath.

 

It did not involve the dog and the turkey, though with a little inattention on our part, it certainly could have. This picture captures how Carson feels about Thanksgiving. It's probably his favorite day of the year.

 

I was so prepared for Thanksgiving - I had done everything that absolutely could be done the day before - that I went up to the attic and worked on this wreath. The Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade was on in the background, and I was having a great time. About 10:30 a.m. Mr. Oodles wandered upstairs and wondered aloud if there was anything we should be doing. If Mr. Oodles weren't such a nice person, he'd probably have said, "Shouldn't you be doing something other than making a wreath?" but he didn't, even though that's what he meant.

"It's all done," I replied confidently, and then paused. "Except for putting the turkey in the oven."

So we ate a little bit later than usual. (Seriously, only a little bit - like half an hour.) And, more importantly, I got the wreath finished.

 

I need to fiddle around a little more with this wreath, then they're both going in Etsy.

 

After we ate and watched a little football and said goodbye to our company, I needed a mindless project to work on. So I made a garland with tiny Christmas ornaments and some old tinsel. You just pop the little wires off the top of the ornaments and then fasten them back on over the garland, but you probably figured that out.

 

It's draped on the mirror for now, and then it's going on a little tree.

We're going to start decorating as soon as my son can get himself out of bed. (He doesn't want us to start without him.) He was thinking 11-ish but wasn't making any promises. Oh, to be a college student again!

 
 
 
 

Thanksgiving day

 

Folded.

 

Ironed.

 

 Washed.

 
 
Duly noted.

 
 
Greetings sent to one and all.

Happy Thanksgiving, friends!
 
 

Hints for a happy holiday season

 

I don't find the November issues of most magazines very helpful. I don't need a Turkey 101 article, because I know how to roast a turkey. I don't want recipes for new and exciting side dishes, because we like the food Exactly The Same Way Every Year. And I already know to do stuff like get the prep work out of the way, as evidenced by the chopped celery and washed cranberries.

What I'd like to do, then, is provide the occasional hint that has proven useful to me but that you might not have read about elsewhere. We'll come back to this photo and the Swanky Swig in a moment.

 

Hint # 1: If something falls apart in your hands when you pick it up at the thrift store, don't necessarily decide against buying it.

This pink shelf (which is just propped up for the moment) broke into two pieces when I picked it up off the shelf at the Salvation Army yesterday. That's usually not a good sign. However ...

 

with a little nailing and gluing, it's ready to use. For $1.99 and chippy pink paint, I'm willing to do a 10-minute repair job. And I need all the shelf space I can get at Christmas.

 

 Hint #2: Visit overpriced antique stores during the holiday season.

Even if the prices on some Christmas decorations are high, there are still bargains to be found. These mint-in-the-original-package balls on silver stems were selling for thrift-store prices.
 
 

Here's how they looked before I took them out of the package. I'm betting the Treasures store was pretty fabulous in its day. Even if calling it "A Woman's Paradise" might be overstating the case a bit.

 

 Hint #3: Have a pretty juice glass handy as you cook Thanksgiving dinner.

This year I've selected a black tulip-patterned Swanky Swig for an essential part of my Thanksgiving preparations. First, you'll want to fill the glass with a nice white wine to deglaze the roasting pan and get all of the pan juices for gravy. The Swig is just the right size for this.

Then, if, for example, your husband has just left to pick up the difficult relative who joins you for Every Single Holiday, and you like to keep alcohol as far away as possible from the relative who is difficult enough as it is, you may choose to refill the Swanky Swig with wine. You may choose to sip discreetly from it as you cook, and you may find that you are able to face the next few hours with an even calmer and more cheerful spirit. A Swig does not hold all that much wine, but you may find some sort of adolescent joy in the covert nature of the activity.

I hope these hints prove useful to you.

Twilight walk

 

It was just about twilight when I left the post office today, and it was the perfect time for a walk down the main street of my town. The merchants were putting the final touches on their Christmas decorations, and there was kind of a festive, happy buzz, with mannequins being dressed and garland being strung.

 

The lights have been hung on the gazebo, and the tree at the end of the jetty is up, but it's not illuminated yet. There's no prettier spot than this at night after a fresh snow.

 

The wooden caroling figures are part of the scenery for the Dickens Christmas celebration that happens here every weekend between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Characters in Victorian-era costumes stroll up and down the street, and there's music and singing and horse-drawn carriage rides. People come by the busload to see it. They love it. If you live here, you're pretty much obligated to feel very inconvenienced by the whole affair, and so I do. In all honesty, if I didn't live here and have to plan my weekend errands around the traffic, I'd think it was pretty nice.

 

A lot of the shops are in houses that have been converted into retail space. This one is a beauty, with or without its Christmas finery.

As I walked, it got darker, and the windows glowed golden, and the holiday season really felt like it was almost here.  
 


  

Thanksgiving countdown

 

Almost none of my efforts the past few days lend themselves to pictures. This is the only picture I could come up with - the current occupants of the shelf on the Hoosier, a pair of Napco turkey salt and pepper shakers and an old postcard with a turkey and thatched cottage.

I did everything on the to-do list (washed all the windows, painted the basement stairway, scrubbed porch, cleaned the house) and added a few more (washed and ironed all the curtains, cleaned out some of the gardens, shopped for Thanksgiving.)

 

At one point this passed for a pretty scene last week - rose-scented linen spray for ironing and a pile of clean but wrinkly curtains. It took 2 1/2 hours to iron them all. I won't be washing them again in the near future. If ever.

 
 
Every once in a while, there are still a few flowers blooming in the garden at Thanksgiving, just enough for a tiny flower arrangement. This looks like one of those years.

 
 
Right now there is focaccia baking in the oven and minestrone bubbling in the slow cooker. My friend (who's my role model for an older person who travels, reads, thinks and is just generally a joy to be around) is picking me up to go to a community Thanksgiving service, and then she's coming back here to have dinner with us. In the meantime, I'm going to sit down in my clean house and look out my sparkling windows and try not to think about those brownies. I'm not going to do anything that requires more energy than turning the page of my new Martha Stewart magazine (which looks like one of her better Christmas issues) or flipping through the channels to find the best football game. Thanksgiving is just four days away, and I'm pretty much ready. In the words of the old Thanksgiving song, all is safely gathered in. 
  
 

Thrift store find, with musical accompaniment

 

I didn't find any of this at a thrift store. This is what I didn't get done today - I wanted to do some photo styling and list some of this in Etsy (not the Jadeite! the Jadeite is for show!). I did not get it done, though, because I've been cleaning since 7 o'clock this morning. Not the wimpy kind of cleaning. The cleaning that involves washing storm windows and dangling out of third-floor dormer windows to clean gutters. Somehow I think the photo styling would have been more fun. Anyway, I have a thrift store story. You need to know two things: one, this particular store has been playing Christmas music for at least two weeks, and I have increasingly been skipping the linens because they're dismal and overpriced.

 
 
But as I was leaving empty-handed yesterday, I thought it couldn't hurt to look, and lo and behold! Christmas fabric! Not overpriced! And at the very moment I pulled it out to look at it, the song "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" came on the radio. It was too perfect. (If that song gets stuck in your head for the rest of the day, I'll consider my work here done.)

 

And then the clerk looked at it and said, "Oh, a yellow tag. It's half price." It was one of my best thrifting moments ever.

My pre-Thanksgiving to-do list includes, in addition to gutter-cleaning and window-washing, the following items: paint cellar stairway, wash down porch, wash kitchen cupboards, clean the oven and the refrigerator. I'm not sure, but I think I thought I could do all of this today.
 
 

It's all good

 

This snowman decoration is a little battered in places, but it's one of my favorites. One of the reasons I like it so much is because it's the perfect example of how so many vintage pieces use the same few things - like chenille and floral stamens and tiny ornaments - in all kinds of ways.

 

(oops - it's realy hard to read the words on the package - its ribbon is made out of a single strand of a tinsel icicle.)

 

He just makes me smile.

The out-of-town thrifting this past weekend was pitiful, but the family time was priceless. My dad wasn't expecting any kind of birthday celebration, so he was definitely surprised. For the first time in ages, our whole family, college kids included, managed to get together. And my son will be home for Thanksgiving break by the end of the week. It's a good time of year. 

 
  
 
 

Sniff, sniff ... goodbye

 
  
Safe travels, little Rudolphs.

 
 
It was great to meet you, pink handpainted ornaments from Poland.

 
 
Bloom where you're planted, pretty flower reflectors.


 
 You, too.

 
 
And you.

 

Sigh. And you, too.

 
 
Oh, you lovely Shiny Brites ... I will love you forever. Even if I can't keep you.
 
They're all on eBay, starting Thursday night. (Everything will be there by 8:15 p.m. EST.)
Here's the link.
 
 

Here's my favorite Christmas tree ever. I got it only yesterday.

 

I put it on Etsy today, and it's gone already. I'll miss you, white Christmas tree. I will never forget you. Even if we only knew each other 24 hours. 

And on the subject of goodbye: I'll be off celebrating my dad's birthday Saturday and Sunday, and I don't know if I'll post again before then. You know what a quick trip means, right? Yeah, family stuff and all of that, but also a fresh batch of thrift stores.