If you've never been to an estate sale, you are missing out. You're not going to find garage sale prices on everything, but on the last day, costs drop significantly. The only problem with waiting till the last day, is likely someone else wanted the item you were holding out for more than you did. In which case, it's gone when you go back. I still have regret about not buying some things in Midland, Texas. The house right across the street had some fantastic handmade wooden furniture and antique trunks at their estate sale. I debated on getting them on day two. I missed out though. Day three they sold. I can still see them in my mind's eye.
When I saw these sweet vintage miniature ornaments at an estate sale recently, I couldn't pass them by. They don't make them like this anymore. I can imagine they were hung on a small tree on an entry table with tinsel and brightly colored lights. Around the tree, no doubt were family portraits sitting in beautiful frames. Maybe some candlesticks and other Christmas decorations were near it.
I L.O.V.E. Christmas! The first year my husband and I were married, I don't remember putting a tree up. We were so broke. He worked two jobs and I did as well. We lived in a tiny place where the population was 24,000. The downtown was a few blocks long and had the home town jewelers, the beauty shop, banks on the corner, the boutique, and the family-owned hardware store. What I do remember about our first Christmas together is that I hit the hardware store the day after Christmas because I'd seen the plumpest Christmas tree that was perfectly suited to my style there. It was out of our budget before then, but it was half off that day twenty-three years ago.
In 2017 we were completing some renovations on our house in time for getting the tree up. My husband received a phone call while he was hammering in baseboards, offering him a job promotion in Shreveport, Lousiana. We had no intention of leaving Midland then. Our house was perfect for us and in a well-established neighborhood. Our living room had a cathedral ceiling with a beam across it. We'd painstakingly removed the popcorn ceiling from every room in the house, including that one. I had just painted the walls and we'd just purchased a huge leather sectional to fit in the ginormous room. Our seven and a half foot Christmas tree was dwarfed in that space. We'd said that would be the last year for our Ol' Faithful tree. We would shop for a new one after Christmas.
That phone call changed everything.
Sometimes I wonder how God can orchestrate so many lives all at once. He's amazing! We prayed about what to do and everything we prayed for worked out. It was a good thing we held off on replacing Ol' Faithful. Our eight-foot ceiling won't allow a taller tree. She is getting harder to put together. Her top piece sits a little crooked and some of her limbs are just barely hanging on. I don't know if she's going to make it to a twenty-fourth Christmas with us. I've got fond memories of decorating her as a couple, then with the kiddos as they put all the ornaments at their height. (I'm literally wiping tears right now reminiscing.) We would make ornaments together and every year we bought one with the year on it for good measure. The original silver garland gave up the ghost last year, but we still have the red, white, and green straw garland we sat and put together a few years ago. A new star has replaced the angel who sat on top for so many years. All of these things will move onto the next tree we find. Who knows, maybe we'll get a real one next year.
I'm sentimental. It's going to be hard for me next year. As I look at these little estate sale ornaments I wonder how many Christmases they've seen. How many times tiny fingers were careful to hang them so they didn't break. I'll hang onto them until one day maybe my grown children will use them or offer them up to another family at my estate sale.
I just looked it up, there's a Guinness world record for the oldest Christmas tree already. It's from a Woolworth's in 1886! Ol' Faithful isn't breaking a record at least. What about you, have we got you beat on how long you've had yours?
#ohchristmastree #sentimental #reminiscing #christmasornaments #productphotography #merrychristmas #texas #zoemartinphotography
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