Why I Oughta...

 That's Santa sliding down what looks like a handle protruding from a chimney adorn'd with a wreath.  There's a lot going on there, eh?  I added this little Enesco pot to the collection and I'm thinking this was a florist piece back in the day where someone would send an arrangement in this pot with a handle.  For us?  It'll probably become a candy cane holder.  But, in order to see the light of day, we have to figure out housing situation out for 2016.  That's an emerging theme.  Can you tell?!?! BTW...this appears to be the final post about this vintage Christmas haul from 2015/2016's trip to Michigan.   Lucky you guys, right?

 At some point, I had a focus on spaghetti-trim'd Santas and was diligent about trying to add them - and only them - to the collection.  But that quickly goes out the window when I see a garage sale find that I can't pass up. But, when I *do* come across a spaghetti-trimmed Santa like this candleholder, we just *have* to buy it.  He's marked nicely with a 'Japan' sticker on the bottom and he likely had a partner that didn't make it over the years.  I'll be watching to see if we can ever find his partner so we can end up with a proper set one of these days.

This Santa is both an ornament AND something that could be a tabletop decoration as someone has put a little base with green 'feet' on the bottom of his glass ball.  I really like this guy as he's kind of a mash-up of Santas with felt bodies + Santas with pipecleaner arms + a vintage glass ornament. He, too, was bought up in Michigan at the first of the year. He'll look great next to the rest of our Santas next year.

Another day, another vintage item from the Great Lakes Antique Market.  This time, it is a vintage plastic nativity scene ornament that has what looks like a 'wise man' and his camel.  We have a few of these plastic ornaments with cut-outs on our tree and I really like them - both for their look, but also because they can handle a bit more abuse than a normal vintage glass ornament can.  The kids are savages when it comes to handling the tree every year.

Take a look at this Santa beauty from Holt Howard.  It is an electric coffee/tea pot that is being sold on Ebay for $120.00 .  Let's just say we didn't pay *that* much.    His face is faded, but other than that, he's in great shape.  His top - which is a Santa hat - is there, but the plug isn't.  Don't think that's too terrible of a thing because we're never going to put him into service I would think.  We have some Santa mugs that we've picked up at various garage sales that seem to match him, so maybe we'll end up collecting a 'set' as it were. I can't wait to get our house/home so we can start to think about what Christmas looks like next year.  That's my northstar right now:  get our program going on the house/home so we can have Christmas to look forward to in 2016.

 Maybe my favorite item from this year's post-Christmas vintage haul is this guy here:  a pirate snowman.  I mean...guys....who doesn't adore a vintage pirate snowman.  Complete with eyepatch and gold ring in his year.  And that swasbucklin' belt?  Perfect. He's marked "Made in Japan" and will be a welcome addition to our tree next year right next to these two vintage beauties .

 Every year, we spend NYE up in Michigan and one of the things that we regularly do is to head to the Great Lakes Antique Market to gobble up some Christmas savings.  They normally have some of the booths marked down (sometimes 50% off) for Christmas stuff. We've picked up pots and planters and other stuff in years past.  If you look in January of 2015 or 2014 or 2013 , you'll always see a string of 'vintage Christmas' posts.  And this January will be no different. Consider this the first of a few 'haul' posts showing what we picked up this year.  Starting...with this - which is a first for us - a yo-yo.  He was just too cute to not buy for $0.50.  He's marked 'Kurt S. Adler INC, New York, NY Made in Hong Kong'. The yo-yo is kinda like the little Santa pin we bought last year .  Doesn't quite fit in with the normal collection, but irresistible (and priced right!) so we couldn't pass it up. How could he not come home with us, amiri

Over the weekend, we finally handed over Nat's Honda Accord and as part of that process, I had to clean it out.  I'd be the one who most recently drove the car, but it hasn't been regularly used for a number of years.  We bought our first larger car back in the fall of 2009 and that's when this car became the '2nd car' and we got rid of my very first car - my Toyota Camry. When we got the van last year, the Accord got parked and stayed there until this weekend. Amongst the things I peeled out of the car was this Sportster Sirius radio.  I still remember how Natalie gave it to me for Christmas back in December of 2004 when Howard Stern was about to make the move to Sirius.  It spent some time suction-cupped to the dashboard of my Camry, then quickly was relegated to the cupholder.  Once I upgraded to the newer Accord, the Sportster came with me. Lots of laughs were had with this thing.  But now, it's time has passed.  Between in-car Sirius and the mobi

Well, well, well.  Look at what Nat whipped up for breakfast.  While they're not quite as fluffy/big as the ones we can get at Captain Cook's (and that's mostly because of shape of the waffle maker wouldn't allow for it), but they were quite good.  Feels like a small piece of the pixie dust be sprinkled at home and the kids sure loved 'em.

Walking down York Street earlier this week, I found this torn-open package for some XL Fart Bombs.  I can imagine the delight this young lad had when Santa delivered these to him in his stocking and while he and his friends figured out who they could deliver the 'mega-stinkiness'.  Ah...to be ten years old again.