Rockin' Through the Shops

Several years ago, my mom gave me a Rockin' Santa. He gyrates his hips to Brenda Lee's "Rocking Around the Christmas Tree." The whole production is a little loud and obnoxious, but I love the Santa so when I pull him out every year, I leave the plug in the basement. My husband HATES Rockin' Santa and twitches when he sees me bring the box up.  Every year, we have the same conversation:

"UGH. You're bringing up Rocking Santa."

"I'm not going to plug him in. You know I leave that in the box."

"I don't care what you do. Just be sure to get that Rockin' Santa business out of your system before I get home from work."

"Whatever."

It's a joke really. I think Danno exaggerates his distaste because he knows it gets a rise out of me. Every year he rolls his eyes in disgust and every year I valiantly defend poor Santa.

This year I did a lot of shopping in Antique Stores and it seemed like there was a Rockin Santa every where I turned.

It started with this Santa

I was in the Antique Shop near my house and came across Cowboy Santa. I posted the pic on Facebook, to which my husband replied "HATE".

I found this Santa at an Antique Mall on top of a dresser crowded in with a lot of unrelated nick knacks for sale.

Then there was Saxophone Santa.

This was one smoooth looking Santa. At this point, I was LOOKING for these Santas so I could tease my husband. I loved his reactions. And when I posted the photo on Facebook, he did not disappoint.  He replied "Is every antique mall required to have one of these??"


The Santas got to be nonexistent the week of Christmas, but I found this one today.

I posted the pic with the caption "One more before the end of the season".  Danno replied "Oh no. HELL no."

I know Christmas just ended but I can't wait to find next year's Rockin Santas and listen to Danno's expressions of outrage.

The lonely Ornament

I've been on a vintage Christmas ornament collecting rampage ever since I did research for the Historic Society's German Christmas party.  I've hit nearly every antique mall and shop in the city in search of those ornaments of yesteryear. I've come across a plethora of Shiney Brites, a respectable amount of ornaments made in West Germany (obviously all made prior to 1989) as well as Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic and a few from Columbia and Japan.

I do have a handful of my grandmother's ornaments. Most of them are Shiney Brites, but there are a few ornaments from Poland and West Germany. There are a few that I do not remember, but there are others that I vividly remember hanging on her Christmas Tree. This is one of those ornaments that I remember. It's an Austrian ornament and it's one of my favorites.

 

I had a very productive day at one antique mall. Not only did I find 2 rare West German ornaments, but a trio of Austrian ornaments that match my Grandma's ornament!

 

As you can imagine, I snatched this trio up in a heartbeat. They were a little more expensive than what I ordinarily pay (I usually don't pay more than $3 for an ornament) but that lonely silver ornament was now part of set. Compared to my tarnished silver piece these ornaments were well cared for, and I could see they were all painted by hand.

I really loved my Grandma and whenever I go into these antique shops, I always look for something similar to what she had, whether it be an orange juice glass, the Secretary Desk or some knickknack. I'm always rewarded in finding at least one object and when I do, I usually stand in front of it, or hold it in my hands (depending on the size) and reminisce of those days long past. Once in awhile, the object can be purchased and I've probably bought half a dozen things over the years. I didn't expect to find a set of ornaments (that weren't Shiney Brites, because she had lots of those) that could be connected to her silver ornament.

Thanks Grandma for the find. I hope you can see how your Silver Ornament is now part of a set.

Why I love my WoW Guild

 There is so much to do in World of Warcraft besides killing the monsters that threaten to overtake Azeroth and much of the domestic life revolves around the mailbox.

 

Through the mailbox you can mail weapons, armor, scrolls and money to your other characters as well as to your friend's characters. The mailbox plays a big part in the Auction House activites; it is where you pick up money from the items you sold and where you receive the goods you won.

There are a few of my guild members who have found another use for the mailbox, a creative outlet, if you will. I think T started the mailbox wars. He and A would mail each other objects with a clever note attached. Monster eyeballs, dead fish, torn sails were a few of the items that flew back and forth between the two. Then I decided to jump into the fray. I sent T a pair of "chiming stress balls" with a note that said when I saw the stress balls I thought of him because it must be stressful shouldering the blame of the entire guild. Because we do blame T for everything that goes wrong in our many encounters with monsters.

A few days later, he sent me a broken necklace with the following note:

 

He's a clever one, that T. He's got the wit and knows how to stir the pot.

Then A and I began sending each other things, with funny notes.. Cloth, cookies, flowers and yes, even shoes.




I must confess that I like Z's letters the best. They are completely random; you never know when or what you're going to get from him.  When we were doing the Firelands raids, I would often receive notes from him "I'm mailing you this from Ragnaros" and "Zomg we're at Ragnaros!"  The best one he sent from Firelands was in post card form.

Tonight, I received this letter tonight from Z before I logged out of the game.

Random and funny. Those are my guildies and I love them for it.

I need to root around in my bags for some stuff to send to T and A. They are overdue for a letter from me.

You two have been warned.