The Best Christmas Gifts Are Vintage

I hope that everyone has had a wonderful Holiday Season, I know Erica, Maddie, and I have.  I've been enjoying my time off from work by spending time with Miss Piper dog, reorganizing and cleaning our home, and recovering from a cold (alright, and maybe a few too many cocktails.)  I think Erica is having even more recovering to do, can you imagine putting away all that vintage Christmas?  To give her the time she needs I thought I would jump in and share the amazing gifts she got me this Christmas.

First, there was a definite theme to many of my gifts, I'm sure you will figure it out.  I've already incorporated them into my home, so bare with me, it was hard to photo my new friends.

 I think that Erica made it official by getting me my 3rd set of bookends, I now have a collection!  They are perfect for holding up my little field guides in the living room.

 Some souvenir deer from Indiana.  I'm happy Erica got me some boy deer, I don't think I have any others with antlers.

 So, when I first saw these, I thought they were giraffes (another animal I love.)  No matter what they were, I was just excited to add a pair of stretch neck friends to my salt and pepper collection.

But, upon inspection, I agreed with Erica that those are definitely deer bottoms.

Now, here is where things get strange.  I lost one of my new deer friends.  I've searched every package I brought home, looked in my car, and I can not find it.  I think my husband is hiding it from me, as it is the largest of the deer gifts Sister got me and he did not seem thrilled when I opened the gift.  I'm going crazy that I can't find it because I had the perfect home for it too.  I will share it as soon as it shows up!

Now, we all know that it isn't Christmas for the Pyrex Thrifter Sisters if it doesn't include two things: vintage and Pyrex.  Erica did not fail to surprise me with these two gifts:

 The Pyrex Embroidery was from Erica's own collection (pretty funny because one of her gifts was from my collection also.)  That other space saver is from last X-mas, I'm a lucky girl.

Now, this I was not expecting!  This is the Pyrex Seville pattern.  I love it because the lid is pink and orange and it is my favorite size, 045.  This is one I've never seen in person so I was pretty darn excited when I opened this gift!

And of course Sister continues to add to my McKee Sailboats collection by getting me the largest of the refrigerator dishes.  I absolutely love this pattern, I have to find a better way to display it.

Not a Christmas Gift, but I picked up this lone bookend at Pic-a-Dilly when I was down with Erica.  I think I know what I will be hunting for in 2014.

I also got a beautiful pair of cowboy boots from Erica, you will have to head over to my Instagram to see those.  As always, I had a very spoiled Christmas but I think the best part was getting to spend multiple days with Erica and Maddie, it had been a long time since I could do that.  Today I'm going to enjoy my clean house by watching it get destroyed by Piper and her friend Marshall that we are watching for New Years Eve.  This will be the first time in years that I'm staying in for the holiday and I am so looking forward to it.  Here's to board games, wine, Thai food take-out, and time with my husband and pets.  I hope that everyone has a safe evening and I will talk to you all in 2014!

Always a Pleasure,
Hanna

Merry Christmas & Thank You!

Hanna, Maddie, & I want to thank each and every one of you who take the time to read our blog.  Like all of you, we know how busy life can be so the fact that you take time out of your busy schedules to see what we are up to means the world to us.  Thank you so much for your wonderful comments.  We read every single one and appreciate them more than you know. 

Merry Christmas!

~Erica, Hanna, & Maddie

Vintage Christmas at Erica & Maddie's!

It's here, everyone!  Time to show you all why it took me 3 days to decorate.  I love this time of year so much.  It's so fun to pull out all of my decorations and either remember where I got them or remember that I have them!  It took me a little longer than usual to put everything out because I was really trying to mix things up from last year.  I think I succeeded! 

Enjoy, friends!

Last year, I decorated my aluminum tree in all pink Shiny Brites.  This year, I went with blue.

The wreath that Maddie, Hanna, & I made last year.  Question for all of you wreath makers....how do you keep the ornaments from falling off while the wreath is being stored?  I had about 10 ornaments in the bottom of the box that I had to re-glue.

The little nook in my living room.  Hanna & I decided this is our favorite decorated spot in the house.

 

 

 

Santa Madness!!

I only found a couple new Santa boots this year but I honestly don't know how I could fit more.  The Santa & reindeer blow mold was a gift from Brian and the kids last year.  I never got around to taking a picture of it.

Last year, the top of my Pyrex cabinet was home to all of my Santa mugs.  This year, I decided it was a good place to display my tins and tape dispensers along with other red and green things.

During the rest of the year, these jars hold kitchen things like sugar and drink mixes.  I emptied them out and added some mercury glass garland, bottle brush trees, old cookie cutters, and ornament hook boxes.  I love this area!

All of the cute thrifted Lefton holly tableware I have picked up over the last couple of years.  I displayed it on my dining room table on top of the giant Poinsettia tablecloth I got at the flea market.

During the rest of the year, this shelf holds my collection of Swanky Swigs.  I think it's the perfect spot for all of my Christmas girls.

I'm super proud of this window display.  I thought of it all by myself!  I took the vintage piece of fabric I bought at the flea market a few weeks ago and used vintage clothespins to attach my old stocking collection to it.  Isn't it sweet?

This shelf normally holds my vintage syrup dispensers.  This year it is home to my cute caroler collection.

Here is my Tom's Peanuts store display rack, which is usually where I keep my souvenir glasses.  It holds my vintage Christmas glassware perfectly.

I switched out my turquoise cart for my red one.  It holds lots of great vintage kitchen stuff in Christmas colors.

Some of these boxes are empty and some have ornaments in them.  A lot of times I just buy the ornaments to display the boxes. Shiny Brite boxes are the best!

Insane, isn't it?  Can you believe the amount of Santa mugs I have acquired in the last year?  I should tell you that all of the ones in the back row are sitting on top of even more Santa mugs that you can't see!  Quite the mantle display, huh?

I love this little mish-mash display, especially the old scale with the egg basket full of old ornaments. 

Maddie's Rushton Santa along with the Santa pillow I found at an estate sale earlier in the year.

Little angels displayed on a stack of vintage suitcases.

Out of all of my blow molds, this little redheaded angel is at the top of my list of favorites.

I put all of my Gurley candles on the shelf right outside Alex's bedroom door.  I figured that they were the safest thing to put there since he runs into this shelf and knocks things off of it at least once a week!

My entry way table holds all of my reindeer and bottle brush trees & wreaths.  There are also some random blow molds hanging out there too.

Hanna walked into this table the other day and knocked over just about every single thing on it.  She spent a good 15 minutes trying to put it back together!

I bought this little tinsel tree at the antique mall last year.  It's the perfect size to hang my tiny Shiny Brites on.

My most prized possession.  This is the ceramic tree that my Grandma Gloria had made for me the year I was born, 37 years ago.  That makes it vintage, right?

Last but not least, our tree.  This year I thought I would save myself some work and go with a smaller tree.  Normally we get about a 12' one but this year our tree is about 8'.  I didn't even get to use half of my ornaments!  Next year, we will be getting a much taller one.

So that's it for me.  I hope that you guys enjoyed everything as much as I enjoyed sharing it with you.  It's a lot of hard work but so worth it in the end.  Now I just have to psych myself up to pack it all away. 

Merry Christmas to all of you out in blogland!!

We will be back soon...

~Erica

Getting To The Last Of It Part 2

Can you all believe that Christmas Eve is tomorrow?  I am really feeling that one less week between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year.  I have had to bypass some annual holiday events this year (baking, crafting, etc.) just to be able to do everything else that has to get done.  But, there is a bright side to all of this.  Since I am not buckled down doing these things, Christmas has a much less chaotic feel this year.  Here I am two days before the big day and I am not running around in a frenzy.  It feels good.
 
Today I am going to show you all the last of my vintage Christmas finds for the season.  Tomorrow I will share my decorations and then once that is done, this Thrifter Sister will be done with vintage Christmas blogging until next year.  It will be nice to get back to telling you all about my other non-Christmas related vintage scores.
 
Here we go again...
 

 
So remember me telling you all about the monster I created?  Brian came home last week grinning from ear to ear about some things he had found for me at Goodwill.  I cannot even begin to describe how much I love the tin with the Santa holding the lantern.  It is easily my favorite one ever.  I am not sure, but I think the one on the right may be a repro but I still love it.

He also found these old trays and Gurley candles.  I swear he looked like my dog whenever he brings me a dead squirrel.  So proud!  Gross comparison I know. 

I have a Starbucks mug radar.  I spotted these sticking out of a giant bin full of holiday themed mugs.  I just knew they were from Starbucks.  After peeling of the 49 cent Goodwill sticker on the bottom, I was rewarded with the telltale logo.  Score!!

Can't leave behind a glass tree topper or an old musical Santa!

I picked up these fun things at the flea market with Sister last weekend.  One booth had the Santa candy container for $20 and one aisle over was the same one for a dollar!  Guess which one I bought?  The wreaths need some embellishment at some point and the baby deer were way to cute to leave behind. 

 

 

I've had some awesome luck finding Shiny Brites at the flea market this year.

I walked by this figurine several times before finally buying her after Hanna told me I needed her.  I'm so happy I did.  She fits in so perfectly with all of my other Christmas girls.

Now look at this....I bought this box of box of blue Shiny Brites along with this set of 4 old Santa cookie trays at Monticello when I was in Portland for Crafty Wonderland (if you are keeping track, that is 3 identical boxes of Shiny Brites I have found this year).

 

 

The very next day, I found this box of blue ornaments and four more of the same Santa cookie trays at St. Vincent's while out thrifting with Hanna!  What are the odds of finding almost identical things a day apart?

 

 

While in Portland, I also picked up some more Shiny Brites.  I have a hard time leaving them behind when I can find boxes so reasonably priced.  Even if I don't use all of the ornaments, I love to display the boxes.

Cute Santa cut out found at a local antique mall.

Along with this cute Santa themed coloring book (never used!).

And another stocking to add to my collection.

I have been coveting the Holt Howard Santa napkin holder for a long time but was thrilled to find this lookalike at Goodwill instead.

Speaking of Holt Howard, how cute are these Santa shakers found while out with Hanna the other day?  We raced to them! 

So, that is it for my finds for the season.  Unless I get the energy to brave the after Christmas crowds, I doubt you will be seeing anymore vintage Christmas from me!  But after looking over my finds from this season, I'm sure I've shown enough to make all of you happy.

Linking up with my pal Sir-Thrift-A-Lot for Thriftasaurus

Happy Holidays!

~Erica