Vintage Christmas Decorations

I went to my parent's condo on the weekend to take some photos of their Christmas tree.  All the ornaments on their tree are vintage and it is just such a lovely sparkly sight that I wanted to share it with you.

 A few of the ornaments date back to my father's youth 80 years ago and the rest were purchased in the first decade of my parent's marriage in the 1950s and 60s.

The oldest ornaments on the tree don't actually have much colour left on them.  There are two faded 80 year old Santas.  You can see one of them in the photo below with one of the newer Santas in the background - and by newer I mean about 50 years old.

There are also a few birds that are close to 80 years old,

this dimpled ball,

this sweet little basket,

and this mulit-angled dimpled coloured ball.

The first few Christmases after my parents were married in 1954 they bought several boxes of ornaments to decorate their tree.  Many of the ornaments at the time came from Germany and Czechoslovakia.  They were all hand-painted on glass sometimes with the addition of glitter.  My Mother's favourite is this little retro skier in the photo below.

They are such a pretty mix of pinks and reds and blues and silvers.

On the top of the tree is a spire that was also purchased in the 1950s.

You can see one of the horns on the right side of the base of the spire.  When I was a child some of them still made a trumpeting sound when they were blown.  Sadly none of them do that any more after the five of us kids all took turns every Christmas blowing them.

I've always loved the birds on the tree.  You can see a couple up near the spire at the top of the tree and another one (looking a little tipsy) in the photo below.

It was getting later in the day by the time I left and the lights were really starting to make the ornaments glisten.

Don't those vintage ornaments just make the tree so sparkly and bright?

Linked to Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch
Show that Sapin! at My French Country Home