Ornaments from days gone by.

oldfixer

9 years ago

Some of the really old ornaments up in the attic. Aren't they pretty? What do you have to share with us.

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Comments (26)

Jasdip
9 years ago
Oh I remember those growing up!!!! Nan had all of those on the tree, as well as long pointy ones in both blue and green.
phyllis__mn
9 years ago
Oh, yes, those are all so familiar. I didn't put up a tree last year, as we were doing the celebration at a hotel. I did have a little fiber optic, which was fine, but I'm getting the urge to put up the tree again.
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Use by, sell by.....
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I helped a friend clean out his mother's house after she had died. She was a hoarder. In fact, she no longer lived in the house...had moved into another house with him, and her husband still lived in the house. It wasn't like there was garbage all over the place or dead cats or anything like that, but she had a pantry full of canned goods that had been in there for an eon. Many had exploded and the shelves were covered in the stuff. It was really nasty. I didn't have to clean that up...I think all I did was carry out her clothes that she kept stored there. She shopped every day and the amount of clothes she had was unbelievable. Years ago we were eating at a beach side restaurant...on Bolivar, not one of the fancy restaurants. There was an outside deck with picnic tables and the ketchup was in those squeeze bottles...with the pointy little tip. I put it on my food and it was soured. Yuck. I think that contributed to my food peculiarities. I keep ketchup in the refrigerator and I throw it out when it gets about halfway gone. I figure if I can spend $40 a day feeding horses, I can afford to replace ketchup often. Same for mayonnaise.
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nanny98
9 years ago
Fond memories. I could add tea pots and snowmen and santa's.... and my most prized string of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer lights. (circa1964-5). As always, thanks for the memories...I doubt I'll be getting the oldies out.

Nanny
lisa_fla
9 years ago
I love old ornaments. Sometimes you still see them at yard or estate sales. Inexpensive too!
duluthinbloomz4
9 years ago
Yes, the Shiny Brites. The older ones, like yours have the metal cap and loop. During the early war years, the metal cap was replaced by a cardboard cap.

I'm downsizing my decorating seriously and gave 8 boxes of Shiny Brites - all in the original sectioned boxes - to my brother. These came from our maternal grandparents... according to the original price pasters, 89 cents and/or less a dozen from Woolworth's.

I have hundreds and hundreds of ornaments collected over the years in my travels, and though I'm not in the market for more, I always look. Haven't seen much of anything inspiring.
gadgets
9 years ago
My first Christmas away from home, my brother found out I wasn't going to have a tree. He went to the woods and dug up a pine between 12 and 18 inches tall, put it in a 3 lb coffee can, and got ornaments from Mom.... and they look identical to what you show. I've given away all my decorating stuff, but kept those.

Shirley
Deeby
9 years ago
What a lovely thing for your dear brother to do.
caroline94535
9 years ago
Not my photo, but I have some of these angels that belonged to my Grandmother.

We have two boxes of Shiny Brites that MIL gave to us last year. I found another single Shiny Brite at a yard sale; the guy gave it to me for free!
caroline94535
9 years ago
An odd shepherd that is older, but similar to MIL's 1952 Nativity set.

This piece was made in Germany.
sheilajoyce_gw
9 years ago
Oldfixer, you have one of my very favorite that came from my DH's grandparents' tree in Bloomington, Illinois. It is the little red and silver lantern in the bottom box. I also have a large, really thick glass ornament in metallic green that is so heavy that we have to hang it close to the trunk or on a bottom branch.
juellie1962
9 years ago
Oh I love these old ornies!
Shirley, what a sweet sweet brother you have! :)

Caroline, I think my dh's grandmother had that same set! I always thought it looked like Elvis dressing up as a sheppard. LOL

Love seeing everyone's "stuff". I especially love glass ornaments!
Alice_sj
9 years ago
Juellie, I love glass ornaments too!

All of the ornaments and figures are very interesting. I enjoyed seeing and reading what you all wrote about them. I don't remember ever seeing my grandmother having a tree, and I don't remember anything special about my parent's ornaments. I do enjoy reading about others' traditions.
juellie1962
9 years ago
Your grandmother didn't have a tree?? That is unimaginable! My grandma decked out her house, as I do for my grandkids. I want them to be in awe....and they usually are! It's not over the top but nothing in my house is untouchable...well, maybe my glass ornament tree, but there are 3 others to pick from. ;)
joaniepoanie
9 years ago
Those are the ornaments my parents had...fond memories. Now I'm inspired to find some!
oldfixer
Original Author
9 years ago
This wind up Angel sits in the China Cabinet.
sylviatexas1
9 years ago
Does anyone remember the lights that had liquid inside?
seems like the liquid was tinted, or maybe the color of the light made it look tinted, & it bubbled.
duluthinbloomz4
9 years ago
"Bubble Lights". There's a retro version out now just about every place you can buy Christmas lights - the glass is tinted. Come to think of it, the glass was tinted in the vintage ones too.
oldfixer
Original Author
9 years ago
Vintage bubble owners take a look and jump in ............. I say the glass was clear and the liquid was colored.
Cherryfizz
9 years ago
Old Fixer, I have the same decorations in both your pictures. Here are some of my pictures, some of the mantle decorations are older than I am, but I have added over the years to it. haha nothing is to scale but we love it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Christmas Mantle plus tree
oldfixer
Original Author
9 years ago
Cherry .... good show, that's a lot of stuff!
AND, above question answered, she has a photo of a Bubbler. Clear glass, colored liquid.
secsteve
9 years ago
I have some of those shown in the photos as well as the box they came in. None of my siblings wanted the ornaments, so I took them. The boxes have the names of the stores, like Woolworths, and others on them.

My niece got the old (and I do mean old) strings of lights mom had on the tree with the shiny aluminum cups that shaded the bulbs.
hounds_x_two
9 years ago
Agreeing with OldFixer-
The glass was clear and the liquid was tinted.
Bubble Lights were my favorite.
party_music50
9 years ago
I love old glass ornaments!!! My parents gave me a big box of their old ornaments, so we have one of the pink ones in common, OF. Some of my favorites are in this pic. lol!
User
9 years ago
My husband had an assortment of antique ornaments. We stored all our ornaments in the basement and one year the city had a huge flood and we ended up with over 4 feet of water in our basement, destroying all the ornaments.

I do see now though, ornaments makers are bringing back the "old look" to ornaments again. I love them!
mama goose_gw zn6OH
9 years ago
Thank you for this thread. I recently donated my Country Living magazine Christmas editions, but I miss the articles on antique and vintage ornaments. Everyone's ornaments are beautiful--just looking at them brings back memories. I love the old ornaments, so this year I put up a small tree with only glass bead garland and figurals. We'll still have the traditional, kid-friendly tree downstairs.
oldfixer
Original Author
9 years ago
The trees are showing off some pretty oldies.
FLASH: spotted some original Bubblers today, set of 12, $36.00. (Clear glass, colored liquid).

Ornaments from days gone by.

Comments (26)

Jasdip

phyllis__mn

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Ornaments from days gone by.

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