12.19.2009

Christmas Collections

It's Christmas week so I thought it would be fun to show you some of our ornaments, collections and decorations. My camera is old... excuse the poor photos. 
Santa Baby, can I please have a new camera? Been an awful good girl....

We live in Florida, love all things pertaining to the ocean, so our tree has a lot of sea-related ornaments. Such fun. We try to add to it each year.
I have collected Santas of all kinds since I was a child and several of the red ones pictured here belonged to my mother. Mixed in with both the red and blue Santas are Schaller's gift givers, now distributed by Radko. Each one opens up and there is room inside to place a very small gift. For those of you who would like to know more about gift givers, HERE is their fascinating history.














I made the Santa on the right many years ago. Looks like he's had too much punch! That's a Radko on the left; he's actually a pull toy, if anyone dared!


The blue Santas are all Schaller/Radko Gift Givers. The red ones are a mixture of Gift Givers, antiques, a nutcracker and even a little Santa Limoges.


The bowl on the left contains my mother's old ornaments; you can still see the flocking on them. The tree on the right was made by an elderly woman for my mother...back in the 50's and she got her ornaments from HER mother, who was a miniature collector. I have a pair. I treasure them and continue to be impressed with her patience to work with such tiny ornaments. They stand about 12 inches high.


My daughter brought me the adorable snowlady a couple years ago. I love her. And I made four of the needlepoint stockings. Can you tell which ones?




My sister made the Santa on the left. Isn't she talented? The tree on the right is a Radko tree. Many years ago, the Radko people offered a new ornament every month and if you bought all twelve, you got the tree and the topper. If you look carefully you can see each month; back to school is on the lower left.....you can see books hanging from an old schoolhouse. It depicts September of course. Difficult to see in a photo, but it is fun to look at.





Merry Christmas to everyone!!!
"Tis the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial fire of charity in the heart"

Washington Irving

Happy Hanukkah!
… and May This Festival of Lights bring Blessings upon you and All Your Loved Ones for Happiness, for Health, and for Spiritual and Material Wealth, and May the Lights of Chanukah Usher in the Light of Moshiach and a Better World for All of Humankind.
Hanukkah blessing


57 comments:

  1. You have some lovely decorations! I especially love the vintage ones!

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  2. What an impressive and beautiful collection. Especially enjoyed the Florida-style decorations. ;)

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  3. You have a great collection!

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  4. Thank you for sharing some of your special decorations with us! I love family antique ornaments... I get beauty and history and love all wrapped up in one!

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  5. great ornament! and thanks so much for you kind words and the big HUG! much appreciated!!

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  6. Nice collection of decorations!

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  7. oh love the fishes I need to look for them have fun with your son home for Christmas

    Love Rebecca

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  8. Wow, what an incredible collection - gorgeous ornaments!

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  9. Barbara,
    Thanks for sharing your Christmas treasurs. It was so fun to see your beautiful ornaments and Santas.
    Merry Christmas to you and your family.
    Mimi

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  10. What a festive banner! I've never seen a marine Christmas tree before! My favorite ornament is the mermaid.

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  11. What lovely ornaments. Love the fishie ones! Have a great Christmas :)

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  12. Thank you, everybody! I love bloggers...you are all so supportive and fun!

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  13. I want the octopus, please! WHAT GREAT ORNAMENTS
    Thanks for sharing!

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  14. Beautiful collection! I'm still snickering from my phone call to sister(we're going there today for dinner) Her son brought his 6 year old girl along from Wisconsin..She had three ceramic 18" tall wise men - one is now headless.. I don't know the kid's name, as my sister kept referring to her as "The Demon Child".... :)

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  15. I can't believe you guys MADE those santas. I am super impressed!

    All of your ornaments are so pretty. I love how colorful the fish are. So sparkly and vivid.

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  16. Barbara, your decorations are gorgeous! I love everything, the pink octopus is magical and pink is my favorite color. I love the mermaid and the all the Santas. The wreath with the elves and decorations on it is my favorite wreath I have seen anywhere..lets just say 'I want it' :)
    Your post just brightened my Sunday morning.
    I love going to Florida at Christmastime, I so enjoy seeing the decorations and festivities.

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  17. You're obviously a very talented family and I'm full of admiration! Beautiful decorations; I'd never heard of Radko trees. Happy holidays!

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  18. Beautiful pictures and decorations!!!

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  19. Long past: I don't even remember where we found that octopus- he is cute.

    BD: I commented on your blog. Happy Christmas to you!

    Joanne: Most of the Santas are Radko Gift Givers, but my sister and I did make a couple of the larger ones. And thanks!

    Bunny: I don't usually go nuts on my wreath, but I'm having kids this year so made a "kid wreath".

    Vanessa: Radko hasn't done anything like that since. Glad someone put me onto it when he did! And you won't believe how hard it is to remember each month to buy the ornament!

    Simply: Thank you!

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  20. WOW! I love the decorations, they deffinitely bring perfect Christmas felling at home!
    And merry Christmas! :)

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  21. Wow, gorgeous and fun collection! I love them, all so pretty and colorful! Great post, enjoyed it!

    Have a very Merry Christmas!

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  22. I LOVE all of those fish ornaments. Beautiful.

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  23. What a beautiful collection of Christmas goodies. I especially love the fish ornaments, they are charming!
    *kisses* HH

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  24. Awww, I love the variety of decorations! I especially like the cute whale. :)

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  25. I can imagine how festive your house look like. Love all of your ornaments. They are beautiful!

    Merry christmas!

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  26. Hi Barbara,

    I loved visiting your beautiful home today and your photos of your Christmas decorations is wonderful.
    You have so many fabulous ones. I love them all but just want to say how special are the cross stitch stockings you made, also the Santa your Sister made ( you are both very talented)
    Also the Snow Lady.

    I wish many blessings and joy for your during the holiday Season.

    Hugs
    Carolyn

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  27. I love love love this post! I collect Radkos too! Loving the sea ornaments the way you do, do you have the radko of Santa riding on an alligator? Oh, and I love the shark! So cute!
    Merry Christmas to you!

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  28. Barbara, I love your decorations. My favorites are the little glass fish. Don't you love those tiny glass ornaments? So delicate, so sparkly!

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  29. Chocolaty: We love them too!

    Dishes: It has been fun collecting them, but there are so many now we are being VERY picky!

    Lea Ann: Thanks!

    HH: My favorite is the "mean" fish.

    Su-yin: The whale is charming, isn't he? He's new.

    Elra: Living in Florida we have to work just a little harder at bringing the Christmas spirit into our homes. Although it is rather chilly today.

    Carolyn: Thank you. I made the needlepoint stockings for four of us and then gave up! They stockings are so expensive now and I am not artistic enough to design my own.

    Foodie: Fun to find someone else who collects! I really don't have many of his ornaments- just the ones on the small tree; I mainly collected his gift givers. They have gotten out of sight price wise so unless I see a special one on eBay, I don't get new ones.

    Kate: I broke one this year but luckily it was not one of our favorites!

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  30. Beautiful decorations! Merry Christmas!

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  31. Barbara, these decorations are to die for. So many beautiful Santas. I really like that blue whale ornament...so cute. Thank you for popping over to my blog, and your lovely comment. I'm glad you did, because now I get the chance to see your lovely blog. I scrolled down and was delighted to see so many great recipes that I would love to try. I'm the baker of the family...hubby the cook. I'll be back for more...
    Have a Happy Holiday!
    Maureen

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  32. I can tell which stockings you made because we have the same Land's End stockings that you do!

    I love the mermaid ornament--love her.

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  33. Erica: Thanks!

    Maureen: I love finding new bloggers, don't you?

    TKW: Funny about the stockings. They don't match very well, but it got way too expensive to do them from scratch.
    The mermaid seems to be having a necklace problem. I'll let my daughter figure out what's wrong when she gets home. Half the time I'm afraid to touch the darn things!

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  34. I LOVE the decorations! Esp. the sea creatures!

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  35. You have an absolutely stunning and gorgeous collection. What fun you must have decorating each year and remembering the memories attached to each and every piece. I wish you a wonderful holiday!

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  36. Duck: Wonder if the pond (which is water, after all) would love one of the creatures as a visitor? It would have to be a small creature, probably the mermaid. They are such magic, aren't they?

    Bridgett: You're right- it's such fun to open the boxes each year!

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  37. Your Christmas decorations are truly beautiful, Barbara! My favorite ornament is that mermaid...so cute! Merry Christmas to you and your family!

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  38. wow, you have a great collection for the holidays!!! what fun - and the memories attached to each one are fantastic. I love the fish ornaments - it's fun to see how people celebrate depending on where they live.

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  39. Cute ornaments!! I hope you get a new camera for Christmas! Happy holidays to you & your family.

    Hungry Dog

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  40. Faith: Thanks! She is really lovely.

    Heather: That's the fun of blogging, don't you agree?

    Hungry: Keeping my fingers crossed!

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  41. What beautiful ocean-relating ornaments! I love that beautiful seashell ornament.

    Merry Christmas, Barbara!

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  42. What a wonderful collection of Santas' Barbara,

    Merry Christmas from a very snowy Liverpool UK,

    Di.x

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  43. You have such a lovely collection of ornaments. All of your photos came out great. You are super creative and talented with making the Santa and doing the needlepoint on the stockings.

    Thank you for sharing your festive decorations!

    Merry Christmas!

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  44. Susan: The seashell is one of my favorites too.

    Trubes: You have a really funny post up right now! Nice to meet you! Merry, merry.

    Katherine: Thank you! Everyone likes that one- must be all that blue and white!

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  45. Barbara your collection is really beauty!! I love all Christmas things and year by year I collect some things, I love them.
    Your are amazing.
    I whish you a very happy Christmas and beauty Holidays, huggsss gloria

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  46. I don't know if the Babies will get their Santa wishes...they're busy terrorizing my in-law's chihauhau!

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  47. i want a fl tree, they scream FUN! wishing you a very merry christmas and wanted to thank you for sharing at fws!

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  48. Wow, what a beautiful collection. I love that many of them have history or were handmade by loved ones. So you and your sister have talent that extends far beyond the kitchen, I see! It looks like the Red Santas and Blue Santas should be engaging in a snowball fight. Or team sport.

    Happy holidays to you and your family! I already know it will be filled with good eats. May it be filled with warmth and happiness and love, too.

    ps. I just got myself a stand mixer. Baking, here I come. Woohoo!

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  49. Gloria: Thank you and I wish you a Merry Christmas too!

    Duck: Oh dear! Not trouble in the Pond? Santa will leave coal!

    Blue Moon: I know! Florida trees are fun!

    Bella: Santa came early and gave you a mixer? You must have been a good girl. ;) Merry Christmas to you, Bella, you have brought such pleasure to so many with your art.

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  50. Merry Christmas dear Barbara.

    I laughed when you said one of the santa's was a pull toy if anyone dared. har har

    Renee xoxo

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  51. What a beautiful collection. Your Santas are truly beautiful! I had the same idea, pictures of our favorite ornaments. But alas it was only an idea. Never took the time.
    Thanks for sharing, Have a wonderful Christmas! Pam

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  52. What an incredible collection ! Hope you and your family have a wonderful and special christmas Barbara...!

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  53. What a gorgeous array of vintage ornaments! We have a few, but nothing like this. Hope you had a lovely holiday :)

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  54. You are serious about Christmas and I love that! If you're going to do something, you might as well do it right!

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  55. Happy holidays to you and your family, Barbara! :)

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  56. Oh!! The shark and whale ornaments are so CUTE!! (in a former life, I wanted to be a marine biologist) :)

    Hope you had a wonderful holiday!

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  57. Love ornaments, especially the champagne bottle - that would be perfect on my kitchen tree!

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