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A truly vintage Christmas decoration classic comes from the Pickle Ornament. For those of you who have not yet heard of it, it is simply a glass ornament that is in the shape of a pickle! It can be either a dill or a gherkin, it comes in various forms. It is not the shape or style of the ornament as much as it is the use of it.

For many generations, families have been hiding a pickle ornament on their tree as part of their traditional Christmas celebration! In my family when our kids were still at home, my wife and I would make that one of the last orders of business on Christmas Eve. As the kids were all tucked in fast asleep and we were winding down from wrapping the presents, we would then hide the pickle ornament! That task was usually my treat being 6’4”, I could reach up a bit higher than my wife and find the best spot possible! With a green ornament on a green tree, it was naturally camouflaged which made the task a bit easier. The object also was not to make it too difficult when the kids were a lot younger so that they could eventually find it without ripping the tree apart!

As our kids grew older, we had to make it more challenging, so we would hide the ornament somewhere else in the house ala easter egg hunt type of thing. That would make it a bit tougher and more valuable for the lucky finder. Usually we would have a special present reserved, but in a pinch, cash will do quite nicely.

Now that I’ve told you a bit about how our family handled the pickle ornament, lets take a look back at history to see where it actually came from. The tradition most likely came from Germany when parents would hide the pickle ornament and a lucky child would find it. The story goes that the child in addition to receiving an extra present from St. Nick would also receive good fortune for the next year.

There are others who debunk this story and claim that it was more likely a Bavarian who came to America and fought in the Civil War. The Bavarian’s name was John Lower and he was captured and locked up in the notorious Andersonville prison. Nearing starvation, he convinced a jailer to get him a pickle to eat. Having gotten a surge of life from this kind offering, Lower survived and began his own tradition of hiding a small glass pickle ornament in the family Christmas tree. Its finder on Christmas morning would benefit from a year of good luck.

It is obviously impossible to track down the authenticity of these stories or fables as one might call them. The important thing is start your own family tradition and begin to celebrate as so many of us have over the years with a Pickle Ornament!! Let this become a vintage Christmas decoration in your home!!

You can get your own pickle ornament here!!

Pickle Ornament

My wife, daughter, and grandchild Caleb recently visited a quaint little community of Cedarburg WI in particular a wonderful little shop named “Good Things from the Heart”. If you are ever near Cedarburg, you must see this shop. It is in a decent sized two story Victorian, but it is so chocked full of goodies that my wife says she gets “sensory overload” when she walks through it. I must agree!! There is so much merchandise crammed in that it is difficult to walk through it all and really hard to see everything.

I particularly wanted to visit the Vintage Christmas Decorations displays which were outstanding! I picked up an old fashioned Santa Claus Post Card Ornament which depicts a rosy-cheeked Santa holding an American flag dressed in a red colored gown covered with gold stars. I absolutely love it and can’t wait to place it front and center on our tree in a month or so!

Doing a little research, I found that these type of ornaments can be traced back to England about 150 years ago. Apparently there was a chap named Richard Armour who said that “You cannot reach perfection though you try however hard to there’s always one more friend or so you should have sent a card to.” His friend Sir Henry Cole agreed and realized that it was getting more and more difficult to send out individual Christmas greetings because of the sheer volume of acquaintances that he felt compelled to send them to. After all, as the founder of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, he had made a large number of friends over the years. He always used the Christmas occasion to remind his friends that it was incumbent upon them to help the poor and destitute especially during the Chrismas holidays.

To meet this challenge, Sir Henry came up with a solution! He commissioned John Calcott Horsley to paint a card that would depict the caring of the poor, feeding and clothing and such. It also displayed on the center panel a happy family embracing one another, sipping wine and enjoying the celebrations. The card however drew instant criticism because it showed a child enjoying a sip of wine which was deemed to be “fostering the moral corruption of children.” The card had printed on it
“A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You.”

In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, Holiday cards were designed by Kate Greenway who was the Victorian children’s writer. Most of these cards were quite ornate, many decorated with silk, fringe, and satin. They were cut out in shapes of fans, crescents, and bells, birds, candles and even plum puddings. Some cards were cut out so that as maps or puzzles, they could be fitted together. There were even pop-up cards that when opened became tiny mangers or even skaters.

It took almost 30 years before Louis Sprang, a German emigrant to the U.S. opened a lithographic shop with $250 and published the first series of Christmas cards. His early creations depicted flowers and birds, not particular to Christmas. By 1881, he was producing over 5 million Christmas cards per year. He began to feature snow scenes, fir trees, crackling fireplaces, and children playing with toys. His cards are very collectible today.

A trip to the local Hallmark store yesterday showed just how far we have come with the evolution of Christmas cards. In addition to the other Vintage Christmas Decorations that they have on hand, the variety of cards is truly quite amazing. I particularly like the cards where you can record your own message or where you push a button and a theme from a movie might play. How about cousin Eddie talking about His RV and how he and misses need to spend some quality time alone? (From the Christmas Vacation movie)

Why not start your own traditions and begin collecting Vintage Christmas cards and ornaments? It can make Christmas last all year long!

For more articles like this one and unique Vintage Christmas gifts, visit http://www.vintagechristmasdecorationsblog.com

The Merry Christmas Postcard Storybook

I was musing the other day about why we should consider an old fashioned Christmas for our house this season (other than I just love it anyway!!) And one of the reasons that seem predominate in my thinking is that in times of turmoil, we tend to revert back to safer times and warm memories. For some of you with difficult families growing up, going back might not seem like a good idea at first. But usually there are at the very least a few special times that might make you smile! It is the same reason that we tend to like Classic songs or styles or decorations. After all, not too many people are into futuristic modern art or home styles of that nature. We all long for security and wrapping our homes this holiday season with vintage Christmas decorations is one way of showing just that!

Why do we tend to like the old movies like “Christmas in Connecticut” or “Its a wonderful life” or “The Bishops Wife”? These are enduring movies with family orientated themes that stir up emotions deep within. In our household, we have many of these old movies and some newer ones like “Home alone” and “Chrismas with the Kranks” to name a few. I think there are a lot of great reasons to watch these old movies, but perhaps there may be deeper reasons as well.

As the family structures have tended to deteriorate over the last couple of generations and we have been told that there are all types of different ways to make a family, most everyone I know still believes that the traditional family is still the bedrock of our society! We all wish that we would have had “perfect” Moms and Dads and some wish that they would have had at least a mom or a dad, but we can’t go back. We have to make new memories for ourselves to pass on a heritage that is enduring!

Before it gets any closer to December 25, NOW is the time to go out and find those Vintage Christmas decorations. Look at rummage or estate sales in your neighborhoods. Check out Craig’s list or Ebay. Look in your local newspapers. Check with older relatives who may have some of these buried in the attic or in the garage. They may have extra ones that they don’t need. You don’t need a lot of them to get the flavor of it started. How about a box of old “Shiny Brite” glass ornaments or some other Victorian style ornaments or furnishings. The closer we get to Christmas, the faster the prices will rise for these!

Break out the old movies, fill your house with the old songs by Perry Como, or Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, etc. Put some mulling spices out for aroma and fill your tree with great old fashioned ornaments! And above all else, remember that Christ is the reason for the season!!
Blessings to you all!!

For an outstanding link to great Christmas gift ideas for 2009, go to:
http://www.squidoo.com/christmas-gifts?utm_campaign=direct-discovery&utm_medium=sidebar&utm_source=Joan4

A great 6 inch picture disc from The Record Guild of America circa 1946. There is no artist listed with these records, so I have no idea who is singing on this.

Duration : 0:2:5

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Technorati Tags: 78 r.p.m., 78 rpm, 78s, antique, carol, celebration, Christmas, Classic, Holiday, Jingle Bells, Lights, music, oldies, phonograph, Picture Disc, presents, record, Record Guild, Santa, snow, toys, turntable, Vintage, vinyl, We Three Kings, Winter, Yule

Jamie sings Christmas song! 1989 Vintage!

Duration : 0:3:58

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Technorati Tags: 1989, Christmas, Gary, Jamie, Zina

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