A little thrifty Christmas decorating

I have been looking at some amazing blogs with some gorgeous decorating with thrifted and vintage items and mine doesn't even come close but I am going to share anyway.  I like it even if it is very simple.  This is just a little corner off of  my kitchen bar.  I thrifted the white shelf for .99cents at the Salvation Army and have been holding on to it trying to decide what to do with it.  The same with the vintage thermos.  I love that thermos and thought it was perfect for vintage Christmas decorating.  99 cents too.  The four little mugs were mugs we had as children so are 50 years old or so.  (!)  The tea towels are vintage, I picked them up at a thrift store up in Lake Isabella when I was visiting a friend.  The are so precious, appliqued reindeer with rhinestone noses and embroidery.  I got them about 8 years ago for .25cents a piece.   The snowman cookie jar I picked up 10 years ago or so at a church rummage sale for 1.00.  He had a few chips on his black hat but I just added a little black paint and you can't tell.  The little tin has the cutest vintage looking Santa on it, it came with cookies in it from the .99cent store last year and of course I kept the tin.  I think it is a cute little corner : )  Total decorating cost- 4.50.  

In another corner of the dining area is my little silver tree with teal/turquoise ornaments.  This little tree reminds me so much of spending Christmas with my great grandmother and her sister and niece in Dallas, Texas in 1965.   My grandma's niece (my 3rd cousin) had a big silver tree and one year she had all blue balls and another year all red.  Good memories.  I picked up my tree at Micheals after Christmas a few years ago for 3.00 and the ornaments are mostly from the .99cent store except the adorable vintage elves. The new ornaments have a vintage feel anyway since they are old school Christmas bulbs.  Also a vintage Ideas magazine from 1977.  We grew up with these Ideas books for all seasons and used to pour over the Christmas ones with pretty pictures, poems and stories.  I found this one on ebay. 

My Santa and Snowman collection aren't all vintage but are mostly from the thrift store and yard sales and I'm pretty sure I didn't pay over a dollar for most of them.  Except for the black Father Christmas I got at Michael's years ago for about 10.00.  

The Santa doll in the back right corner my great, great aunt made for us when we were kids.  He's seen better days but he's 50 years old and we used to play with him. Other than black Santa and the canoeing Santa all were thrifted.

I love my snowmen too. They are mostly thrifted except a gifted one and a 99cent store find, the ceramic guy in back. 

Thrifted choir boys

I thrifted the choir boys this year at a yard sale for 2.00.  They are vintage and made in Germany.  So precious!  The terra cotta pot and pine cone to the left were spray painted by my sons when they were young, about 20 years ago!

This photograph is of the Sentinel Hotel in Yosemite which was built in 1896.  I think the picture is from the 50's.  I thrifted it for 1.00 at a rummage sale.  I really love it.  My boys and I spent many Christmas vacations in the snow at Yosemite.  

I love decorating my mantle.  The garland greenery I got for 1.00 at a thrift store and I found a whole grocery sack full of about 20 gold and crystal pears and apples at a yard sale for 2.00.  This beautiful wreath I made myself from the sticker balls in the backyard that fall all over my yard and in my pool : ) Talk about turning lemons into lemonade! I love my wreath.  A few years ago my youngest had pneumonia in December and we were at the hospital for about a week and then housebound for 2 after that.  So I used that time to make this wreath.  It wound up being one of my favorite Christmases, we couldn't do much, I didn't get out all my decorations, just kept it simple.  We got together every evening at the hospital around a tiny DVD player and watched a Christmas movie and ate snacks out of the vending machine.  It really slowed us down, we didn't worry about all the trimmings and events. We just felt grateful for health and family.  I enjoyed sharing my Christmas, I hope you enjoyed it too.