Happy Holidays!

Modern Christmas Tree Mobiles

 

Happy Holidays! I recently picked up a vintage holiday craft book called Christmas Magic by Margaret Perry, which was originally published in 1964. Inside there are lots of fun & creative ideas for holiday themed crafts. Some of my favorite projects in the book are these modern style Christmas tree mobiles (or 'mobile Christmas cards') that you can make out of construction paper or any pliable materials you like depending on how durable you want them to be. I thought I'd share the instructions, which should appeal to anyone trying to decorate their home with some mid-century style holiday cheer.

Happy Thanksgiving - 1963 Style!

In November of 1963 most of America was in mourning. President John F. Kennedy had just been assassinated and thoughtful citizens around the country were in a state of shock. People were undoubtedly trying to understand what exactly had happened in Dallas on November 22 and how it would effect their world. But families still gathered together and cooked meals.

Above you'll find some Kellogg stuffing recipes and Turkey cooking tips (click on the image to see it full size) taken from a 1963 issue of LIFE magazine. They suggest you use Kellogg's Croutettes, which I don't think are being made anymore but obviously you can substitute them with other types of croutons or bread cubes.

1963 isn't a year that a lot of people would like to remember but I think it's interesting to look back and see what people might have ate during that bleak November. This November there is obviously a lot of unrest and uncertainty in the country once again but I want to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you're all able to enjoy a good meal with family and friends.

Happy Holidays!

Finally did some unpacking and got our tiny aluminum tree decorated. We plan to have a much bigger tree next year but the living room is an absolute wreck right now because we're in the middle of painting it & patching holes, etc. I wanted to make one spot nice for Xmas Eve so I managed to make room in our dining area. In a week or two the dining area will be painted (it's currently the same ugly gray/blue color that the previous owners left it) and I hope we can afford to get a rug soon.

The vintage Danish modern dining set was a recent local find. We were told that it was made in the '60s by Dyrlund and it came with 2 leaves so we can expand it if we need to. Best of all? The whole set (4 chairs & table) only cost us $150!!! The clock on the wall was my Xmas gift to my husband this year and the painting was done in the '60s by a Latvian artist named Jurjans who was a friend of the family.

Happy Holidays!!!

The Aluminum Christmas Tree

Recommended Links:
- Season's Gleamings: The Art of the Aluminum Christmas Tree
- A History of the Aluminum Tree @ Go Retro
- AluminumChristmasTrees.net
- How to Make a Miniature Aluminum Tree
- The Aluminum Tree Museum

A Trim-The-Tree Supper

I recently came across a recipe for a "Trim-The-Tree Supper" in a 1966 issue of Woman's Day that I thought I'd share. It's designed to feed a large group of 10-12 people and the ideas should be easy to recreate today.  I'm not sure how appetizing the "Hearty Seafood Chowder" or "Coconut-Grenadine Trifle" is but if anyone decides to try reproducing any of these recipes I'd love to hear how the results turned out.

Napa's 2010 Holiday Candlelight Tour

Over the weekend my husband and I made some time for Napa's 2010 Holiday Candlelight Tour. This year the tour showcased some beautiful mid-century homes in Napa's Monticello Park area. Here's some information about the area borrowed from the tour brochure:

"... The population explosion led to a post-war building boom, and the area in and around the City of Napa saw the construction of seventy-one subdivisions between 1946 and 1951. Though Monticello Park was part of this post-war expansion, these houses were much larger and more substantial than the nearly identical tract houses intended for working-class families. After its subdivision in 1950, the houses in Monticello Park were developed individually over the next 15 years. The ranch-style architecture that dominated the neighborhood was inspired by architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright, and popularized in the California Bay Area by famous builder Joseph Eichler. The rambling one-story homes of the Monticello Park area epitomized the rise of the suburbia in post-WW2 America. Wide streets accommodated the large cars of the era and huge lawns were perfect for families at play. Design features developed in California, such as large expanses of windows oriented to the back yard, were associated with the desire to bring the outdoors inside, and gave rise to the term "California Modern." The size, quality, and innovative features found throughout the neighborhood quickly made Monticello Park a desirable neighborhood for Napa's professionals and business leaders, especially those with growing families."

And here's some more photos I snapped.









As locals, we really enjoyed the tour because it gave us the opportunity to learn more about our home town. Small details like finding out what kind of locally quarried stones were used on home exteriors and interiors helped us familiarize ourselves with aspects of Napa's architectural history that we didn't know anything about. The tour guides were very knowledgeable and helpful, which we really appreciated.

The tour organizers must have gotten a few ideas from the Sacramento Mid-Century Home Tour because they also had vintage cars parked outside each of the homes on the tour. This was a great idea that made it much easier for us to spot all the houses on the tour. The only disappointing aspect about the tour was the home interiors. Only one of the homes on the tour (an incredible and extremely unusual modern house designed by Grant Perkins in 1965) contained period furnishings and interior details that I really appreciated. The rest were more conservatively furnished. But many of the homes still maintained original features such as floors, etc. In a way this helped us focus more on the houses themselves instead of getting distracted by lots of designer eye-candy. We also didn't have the opportunity to really meet or chat with anyone besides the generous tour guides because we were trying to hurry a little so we could see the homes before it got too dark.

Overall we were just really happy that we got to see some more mid-century homes in Napa and learn about the history of the area. In conjunction with the Holiday Candlelight Tour, the Napa County Historical Society and Napa County Landmarks have organized an exhibit called "From Battleships to Apron Strings: How WW2 created Napa's Swingin' Fifties" on display downtown at the Goodman Library; 1219 First Street Napa, CA 94559 starting Dec. 14 and ending Feb 28, 2011.

I'm really excited about the exhibit and I hope it will give me the opportunity to learn more about my own neighborhood, which blossomed in the '50s. I've been trying to find more information about my home such as the builders name, house plans, etc. but the city hasn't been able to offer me much help. After I visit the exhibit I'll be sure to report back with my findings.

LINKS:
- My Flickr Gallery with more images from Napa's 2010 Holiday Candlelight Tour
- Local newspaper article about the event: Holiday Candlelight Tour visits Napa’s mid-century modern neighborhood

Xmas Tree Decorating Ideas From 1969

Here's some great examples of late '60s holiday decorating. All of these Christmas trees are from a 1969 issue of Better Homes & Gardens. I'm particularly fond of the white flocked trees. If you're looking for inspiration or ideas on how to give your own Christmas tree some swinging sixties flair these images might come in handy.

Happy Holidays!

I've been so busy with work, holiday plans and home renovations lately that I've been neglecting to blog but I thought I'd quickly share a 1951 recipe for Wesson Oil's "Famous Fruitcake." I'm not all that fond of fruitcake myself but I'd like to try making this one someday. If anyone gives it a try I'd love to know how it turns out. Just click on the image to see it full size.

I plan to share a lot more holiday ideas soon. I recently got my hands on some old magazines with great decorating ideas and a lot more recipes. I just need to find some free time to scan them. Happy holidays!

Early Holiday Shopping

Took some time out this weekend to enjoy the 60th Annual Thrift Shop Christmas Bazaar in Napa and picked up some cute vintage Christmas decorations for our home. We found some more elves to add to our growing collection, including a very large one that's animated and plays music. He still works pretty good but could use a good cleaning. We also picked up a cute gold deer and some really pretty tear drop style ornaments. The money generated at the Thrift Shop Christmas Bazaar goes to non-profit organizations including the local chapters of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. You can find more information about this yearly event in a recent story published in our local paper online: Shoppers flock to Christmas Bazaar


Last week we also picked up this amazing solid walnut Kent-Coffey cabinet/dresser for just $85 at a local Goodwill store. It was part of the companies "Town House" line that I believe was originally created sometime between 1962-1966. Kent-Coffey was an American furniture company based in North Carolina and they were competitive with Broyhill. A lot of the companies furniture lines shared a similar style. I absolutely love it and I've seen similar pieces selling on Craigslist for as much as $550 so I think we got a great deal on it. It's in wonderful shape with just some minor scuffing and signs of age but overall it's still a really nice piece. We're not sure what we're going to do with it. We've talked about trying to put together an entire Kent-Coffey bedroom or just using it as a cabinet in the living room for now and maybe even a media stand. It's really beautiful and has incredible lines, the original handles, a beautiful tone and dovetail joints. The picture below doesn't flatter the piece very well. It needs to be really cleaned and but we're still deep in the middle of renovations. You'll also notice that our cat Maximilian decided to run past just as I was taking the picture.

Halloween Costumes 1950-1969

Things are still incredibly slow going at the new homestead mainly due to our budget & time limitations. Right now it's all about getting a new roof put on before winter. It's been a long process trying to get estimates and figuring out what our best and most cost effective options are. But my office and work space is almost complete and once it's done and somewhat more organized I'll share some new photos.

In the meantime I thought I'd share some pictures of vintage Halloween costume patterns from the '50s and '60s. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays and I love looking at pictures of old costumes. I think these patterns were really wonderful but many of the designs haven't changed all that much so they'd be easy to reproduce today. I especially love the alien/space man outfits for little boys and the flower costumes for women.

Happy 4th of July!

I hope everyone enjoys the holiday weekend! I thought it would be fun to share a couple of ads from 1949 & 1950 that feature 4th of July recipes in case anyone is looking for ideas for their own 4th of July menu. Neither of them looks very appetizing but it's interesting to see what a housewife may have cooked up for her family back then to celebrate the holiday. Just click on the images to see them full size.

Happy 4th of July!

Easter Weekend Shopping

Some of my vintage vinyl bunny toys.

I hope everyone enjoyed the recent Easter holiday or as I like to call it, "Bunny & Egg Day." I've been really busy lately but over Easter weekend my guy and I did a little shopping and I thought I'd share some pics of our purchases. But first some background information...

One of the many highlights of becoming a new homeowner is the incredible amount of coupons that arrive in your mailbox after you've moved. I can only assume that real estate agents sell your address for some kind of commission or maybe when you get a new address, phone number, etc. companies now let retailers know? Whatever the case may be, we've been getting a lot of coupons in the mail that offer anything from 10-25% off retail prices at nice shops like Restoration Hardware, West Elm and Crate and Barrel. Most of them come with a letter or gift card that says something like "Hello new home owners! We realize you've just made the biggest purchase you're likely to ever make but we want your business. Please stop by your local "*enter store name here* and spend more money!"

Last Saturday we tried to take advantage of some of these cards. We made a trip to our local Crate and Barrel Outlet where you can find a lot of stuff on sale as well as limited items and damaged merchandise selling well below retail price. While we were there we bought some colorful melamine cups and a set of storage/mixing bowels that we really needed (I love their duel design!). I also fell in love with a really cute serving set that I'd like to purchase sooner or later.

Holiday Miracles Do Happen!

I got an unexpected X-mas gift this year. This afternoon our real estate agent called to let my hubby and I know that the bank had finally decided to accept our offer on the '50s custom built atomic ranch house described in the listing as an "Eichler imitation." After a month of intense negotiations that had left me feeling more than a little discouraged, we get to celebrate Christmas eve along with the purchase of our first home.

The last 6 months have been tough going and buying a short sale home proved to be a complicated process. But I think the wait and research we did was well worth the effort and really paid off in the end.

Now comes the house inspections, moving process and if all goes well settling into our new home some 40 miles away from our current one bedroom apartment that we've lived in for the past 12 years. I'm excited about moving to the beautiful Napa Valley and I look forward to experiencing all that the Valley has to offer. I know next to nothing about wine except that I like mine red but I suspect that I'll enjoy learning about Napa's number one export.

Happy Holidays everyone! I hope you all get to experience a miracle of your own this X-mas season.

A Pyrex Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is only a few days away so I thought I'd share these Pyrex holiday recipes from their 1955 ad campaign in Better Homes & Gardens. I often associate Pyrex with the holidays because I can distinctly remember my mother's kitchen being full of Pyrex bowls and cookware during Thanksgiving and throughout Christmas.

The 1955 Pyrex Thanksgiving Menu:
- Fresh Fruit Cup
- Roast Turkey
- Celery Stuffing
- Baked Broccoli
- Bacon & Sweet Potatoes
- Pecan Pie
- Cranberry Sauce
- Coffee

Recipes, ideas and baking suggestions are all included in the Pyrex ad above. Just click on the image to see the full-size version.

Vintage Pyrex glassware is very popular and extremely collectible now due to it's longevity, smart design and bright colors. If you'd like to learn more about vintage Pyrex I highly recommend visiting the Pyrex Love site where you'll find helpful pattern references and an FAQ. Pyrex Love is also responsible for the wonderful Pyrex Love Flickr Group where Pyrex owners share pictures of their colorful Pyrex collections.

For more information about Pyrex visit the official Pyrex company website:
- Pyrex Products