I’ve always had a soft spot for vintage Christmas items, even before they were called collectibles. I remember when I was a little girl the excitement I felt as my family decorated the Christmas tree.

Me & Christmas 1956

From the time I was about 4 or 5, I took part in our holiday decorating. Some of the tree ornaments made a big impression on me because, as young as I was, I could tell they were really old and likely were family ornaments from the time my dad was a child.

There were a couple of clip-on bird ornaments that were fragile even back then. I remember asking Nana about them as we put them on the tree. There were several other sparkly ornaments and shiny tinsel hanging on the tree, too.

By the time I was in my 20s, I had begun my own holiday vintage collection. Today, it is a combination of ornaments, Santas and other Christmas themed ceramic items.

That’s in addition to collecting holiday ornaments through the years while we were on vacation and for my son as he celebrated his first few Christmases.

This year, I’ve added two cute Santas to my collection. The first is from Quebec:

He is quite tall – 18 inches – and is my only Santa dressed in gray.

My second acquisition was also from a cold climate, but about 3000 miles to the west of Quebec. He is my Alaskan mountaineer Santa:

Santa, the mountain man, is also tall – 16 inches – and both sit on the floor next to my other tall Santas.

While in Alaska, I also found a couple of ornaments to add to my collection. I mentioned the old bird clip on ornaments that my family had on our tree many years ago. Well, one of the Alaska shops had a modern version, which, of course, I couldn’t pass up.

This little guy is on our Christmas tree this year, clipped to a branch just like the old ornament.

In addition to a full sized tree, I have a small German feather tree which is very old and has mostly very old ornaments to match.

One of the ornaments is an early 20th century wire wrapped ornament with a lithograph cherub picture attached to it.

Much to my surprise, the little Alaskan shop that had the bird clip ornament also had a modern version of a wire wrapped ornament, complete with a Santa picture on it. No, I couldn’t pass that up either, even though it doesn’t have quite the same charm and character as the vintage one.

He’s also slightly too big for my dainty feather tree, but that’s okay. He fits with the antique look. 🙂

Christmas is only a week away and I am ready!