Tuesday 3 January 2012

New Year - Old Memories.

Just a quick, random, photo filled post. Apologies for the grainy photos - took them while it was quite dark in the room.


We we're putting away the Christmas decorations today, a sad event in itself since that means it's over for another year, but we came across a wee festive looking box that immediately filled me with wonderful, happy nostalgia. I'm not sure how we missed this box putting the tree up, but I'm so glad I found it again this side of Christmas. It's a very dear item to me, even if it's a worse for wear.
 And inside this mysterious Christmassy looking box is something that fills me with wonderful childhood memories - oh and the box is filled with these lovely wee guys.
Beautifully hand carved, wooden, vintage/retro tree decorations. Delicately painted and glued together with wee wings, musical instruments, presents and ski poles.

I've no idea where they are from, or how long we've had them, but they've been in my family for as long as I remember. I associate them with the smell of real pine trees we used to cut down from the forest behind us (that's right, I'm a country bumpkin, you'll see more of Foyers later on here) and with the chocolate baubles you used to get - does anyone else remember them? It used to be my job to decorate the tree (I think it probably got 'amended' by my parents afterwards) and these were always my pride and joy. Think I used to take them off and play with them too - maybe explains why only a handful are still intact. But they are still beautiful!


















They really are delicate wee things - varying between a couple of centimetres to about an inch/inch and a half. A lot of them are wee Angels in various poses - like the 3 above. I remember their wings really clearly, I also remember them snapping off :'( but the majority of them still have the original tree loops so I'm tempted to put them on our tree next year - a vintage inspired tree :-)



There's around 4 wee gnomes/elves with pointy felt hats like the one in the third picture, but since they're spheres they don't really stand up. Very cute wee beardless things though. The four bells are beautifully painted - two pairs with opposite colours. Could maybe do with a wee touch up to their paint. I love the wee guys on sledges - they look like they're having fun. Both of those Angels still have their wings. I think the presents used to have wee bows on them too. I'd love to make a wee wintery scene to put them all in actually, like something you'd find in the fancy shop windows. Maybe next year.


A wonderful choir scene with soldiers and Angels singing. I think they all had something in their hands - now it's only a few. The drummers definitely had beaters and I think the furthest right Angel had cymbals but now she's only got one arm - how sad. I asked Mum tonight where they came from but she doesn't remember. I'll need to show them to her next time she's down. But I'm so glad I found them. They bring back such vivid childhood memories of a much simpler time, a time where I still had Christmas at home. As much as I love hosting, I do miss waking up to my wonderful Foyers view - simply stunning in winter, and summer, and well.... always. Think I'll need a trip home soon after reliving all these childhood memories.


The box says there are 20 of them inside, there are 25 here... so obviously there were multiple boxes with different characters - I only remember this one box, so they must be from before my time. Wow! 


They're very precious to me, if I didn't realise before, I sure do now. I'm going to keep them very safe from now on - somewhere that I'll remember where they are for next year.
One last picture before I head to bed. Lovely wee crocheted hanging decorations that were in the same box. I remember these well too. Not sure if Mum made them or they came from somewhere else - I'll need to show them to my parents and hope they remember. I love the face of Santa. So unusual. The heart is really delicate too. Lovely.


Do you have any old decorations that trigger any childhood memories? Or any other item that might do the same? I love it when that happens. Guess it shows I had a happy and full childhood.


Do you recognise any of these? Or know where they might have come from/rough age? I'd be fascinated to find out.


For now - night night, I'm off to put these lovely things somewhere safe until next year.

11 comments:

  1. These are so precious! When I have a home of my own to decorate for Christmas, you can be sure I'll be filling it up with lovely old decorations such as these! We have one particular tree ornament that triggers childhood memories every year, but it a strange kind of way. It's a Santa ornament for the tree and he's putting a doll into his sack, but his expression is just so miserable and horrible looking that it kind of looks like he's stealing a child. It's such a hideous thing but we've had it for years, so we can't bring ourselves to get rid of it and it goes back on the tree every year!

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    1. Ha ha ha that sounds so creepy! I'd love to see a photo of it. I know what you mean about not being able to get rid of it. I love finding out about different family traditions, I've read somewhere about a family hiding a pickle in their tree and the first child to find it gets an extra present - it's not a real one. But it's such a great idea! And I'm tempted to create similar traditions when I get my next Christmas classroom full of hyper children. I love trees with hand made decorations on them - makes them look so homely and unique. Next year maybe.

      I really love your blog - it's so pretty, and it's nice to see you're so local too :) The post you put up about the suitcases was really special, it made me really emotional I just keep reading and reading about the guy behind it all. It's really quite an interesting topic. Thank you for sharing :)

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  2. Ohh I love these ornaments! Im sure your tree looks loveky :)

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    1. Aww thank you :) We don't actually use them on our tree anymore, but when we did it certainly did look good. You had to really look closely to see where they were all hiding. Our tree is much more organised now, but I'd like to jazz it up next year with some hand made ornaments. Thanks for your comment :)

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  3. cool ornaments... interesting that you've had them that long!

    Xo
    meinmode.blogspot.com

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    1. Thank you :) I really do love them, but I think I'd be terrified to use them again for fear of more limbs falling off. Thanks for your comment :)

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  4. I have those decorations!! Also had them for years, many are now missing limbs x

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    1. Aww wow!!! That's amazing! Where did you get them from? Do you recognise all of them or do you think some came from a different set? I really do love them, but I'd really love to know where they came from. Do you still use yours or are they safely stored away now?

      Thank you for commenting :) and for letting me know :)

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  5. hi dear!!
    thank you so much for your message in ifb :DD you are so sweet!!you have such a pretty blog! i really appreciate that you checked my blog and liked it and that your message was so personal..
    of course followed you i ll send you an e-mail too about all that you mentioned but right now i am so busy i ll send it during the weekend dont worry :DD
    until then

    kisses!!

    caramellitsa

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  6. Oh my god we have decorations that are exactly like these and were over on the other side of the world!
    I love them they're so cute n vintage.

    Would love it if you could check out my blog would really appreciate it! =)
    http://jmbfk.blogspot.com

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