apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I still have a couple of those bell ornaments...

My parents still have some little glass bell ornaments that actually ring. Me getting in trouble for ringing them almost became as much a tradition as hanging them on the tree...

We live in a classic Cape Cod, with two dormer windows facing the street; the only holiday decorating we do is to sub out our usual second-floor window lamps for two large matching vintage outdoor light-up Santas (I fear that's too many comma-less adjectives, please forgive). They're sentimental and beautiful, yet also just a little creepy in the way they loom over the neighborhood ... which, as it turns out, is just what I was looking for in Christmas decor.

I actually have a ton of 1950s xmas stuff to sell - any recommendations beyond ebay/craigslist/etsy?

(AT listings are part of craigslist, i think, and never netted a response for me but I'll stay open-minded)

Thanks!

THIS is christmas to me. My mother always decorated in this style and now I do, too.

Victorian trading company has some great stuff in this vein.

Adorable kitten half apron
http://www.victoriantradingco.com/store/catalogimages/1a/i15923.html

50s Santa table cloth
http://www.victoriantradingco.com/store/catalogimages/1a/i13809.html

Santa & Snowman bubblers
http://www.victoriantradingco.com/store/catalogimages/4f/i11518.html

http://www.victoriantradingco.com/store/catalogimages/1a/i13484.html

Red nosed santa light
http://www.victoriantradingco.com/store/catalogimages/1a/i13716.html

and it's REALLY not christmas without the pickle!!
http://www.victoriantradingco.com/store/catalogimages/1a/i731.html

One other thing fans of this style may want to check out is vintage lefton & napco figures. My mom has a great collection of these!

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Lefton-Christmas-Candy-Cane-Girl-Bell_W0QQitemZ200412146489QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item2ea97eab39

love the old school styles!

Out of the blue my mom bought me that exact tinsel tree (the color wheel just arrived the tree is on the way).

Looking forward to trying it. I prefer a real tree, but I'm willing to try this.

I have a bunch of vintage ornaments that I bought at estate sales, some in great shape, some not so much, I have several boxes of vintage Shiny Brite ornaments one of the last boxes of Bradford ornaments I bought new in 2005 or 6 only to find they'd closed their doors a year later or so and they went back to the 50's from Target.

I also light my $19 fake 6' tall tree I bought at Big Lots! w/ the C7 light sets, complete w/ twinkle bulbs and will pick up some whenever I find them as those have become hard to locate these days. I love both the opaque and the transparent colored bulbs and mix them up, my balcony has the larger C9 sets, and those are vintage w/ a combo of old and new bulbs, some, again flash and those are vintage as I found some at an estate sale a few years back and looked never to have been used.

I go w/ glass ornaments that mimic vintage German glass ornaments and even have a retired Santa ornament from Christopher Radko that my Mom got me a few years back.

Oh one more thng, I have a photo that will become my inspiration color wise for creating a tree skirt using vintage colors but not necessarily Christmas colors when I have time and money and energy (hopefully for next year).