The Magic of Christmas

"When it seems the magic's slipped away

We find it all again on Christmas day”

~Josh Groban

(speakers please)

Hello everyone, come along with me for another "Vintage Thingie Thursday" with Suzanne from Colorado Lady. She always hosts' a great party for anything vintage every Thursday. This week I have vintage Christmas "stuff" as well as few vintage memories to share. I'm also linking up with Mary from Very Merry Vintage Home to share in more vintage memories. Please stop by both of these adorable blogs and give them a shout out!

I look forward to the Christmas holiday season more than any other time of year and I hold dear to my heart the memories and magic of Christmases past with my family from so many years ago. 

Christmas to my mother was the most important time of the year.

It meant being together with family and loved ones from near and far.

It meant festivities and laughter and a time when the season was simply magical and full of joy and innocence...

For our family, the holiday truly started for us on Christmas eve at Grandma and Grandpa Armetta's house.

There was no place we'd rather be. It was joyous and full of family and the sense of home and place. It was where, still to this day we all wished to be...home for Christmas...

We would show up on Christmas eve in the back seat of that big old 1957 Buick "Special" ready for the festivities to start...

(Google images)

The three of us; Larry, Terry and Nancy were dressed to the nines and my mother, as always, was picture perfect and ready for our annual Christmas photo shoot...isn't that what everyone did back then?

Walking up that front porch at 520 Brooks Avenue, first we'd see the tree in the window and could hear Bing singing, "White Christmas" along with various other crooners of the day. You could hear the laughter especially my Uncle Bill (he sounded like Santa ho, ho, hoeing) coming from inside the house. Most of the family had already arrived and the party had begun.

( Google images)

Grandma's tree was a large white tree all decked out in its holiday finery sitting atop one of these rotating stands...

( Google images)

They also had one of those big rotating colored wheel lights shining on it, remember it was the 1950's and 60's those lights were all the rage and today, very collectible!

So the tree slowly turned while this colored light spun. To the three of us kids, it was all part of the magic of Christmas...

( Google images)

The adults would be served my Grandpa's signature, homemade hot Tom and Jerry's from the bowl and mug set below. I now have this vintage set but Mr. La Bella Vie and I are not really into Tom and Jerry's so now...I use it to grow my annual "Paper White Narcissus" in...

I set about five bulbs in the bowl and one bulb in each of the eight mugs and let them do their thing through the holiday season. It makes a "non-fat", whimsical display without having to use a recipe! 

A contemporary twist from and old tradition! If I could make a lamp out of it, I would but it works pretty well as a bulb forcing set:)

I was also fortunate enough to have inherited my mother's vintage "Santa's boots" mug set from about the mid 1950's. I'm not sure anyone really ever drank from these funny little things except maybe in the movie; "Chevy Chase's Christmas Vacation" but again, they make a great display for a planter or bulb forcing!



Below are some of the ornaments I was lucky enough to inherit from my grandmother's ornament collection that she used on her tree. 

A few years ago, I attached them to a faux wreath and by doing so, they could be showcased and viewed better than if they were simply hanging on a tree where they'd be completely lost and overlooked.

Here's a photo of the wreath. I took this photo last year pre-blogging days so the image isn't the greatest but you get the idea anyway.



These are just a few of my vintage childhood Christmas memories and collections I have to share and to me, they are what I use for inspiration, tradition and hope for all things beautiful during this Christmas season.

More than anything it has given me lifelong remembrance's and no matter how old the pictures get, the memories will never fade away...

I'd love to know what your Christmas memories are. Albeit a story, a gift or a simple remembrance...

I invite you to share what memories and traditions you hold near and dear to your heart during this wonderful season of sharing.

And thank you again, Suzanne from Colorado Lady for hosting another Vintage Thingie Thursday and Mary from Very Merry Vintage Style for hosting your first Linky party!