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