Driving in Gold, and My Childhood Decorations

Ah, what a lovely few days it's been - it feels like I haven't worked in months! And yet, the time has flown. Just time for a quick outfit review, then a few pictures from our drive, and the last of my Christmas decorations (only the village is left!).

Today, L and I got dressed in Real Clothes and went out for a drive to visit my mom and show her Vlad, the new car. 

Again, not really feeling like anything overly fancy, and no mental energy for digging up a Flashback. Just a few things that I like wearing. 

• Sweater - Artisan de Luxe, consignment; last worn here in March on a planned sick day
• Skirt - A New Day by Target, consignment; last seen here for my birthday in October
• Boots - Matisse, consignment; last worn here earlier this month with McQ
• Coat (below) - Donna Karan, consignment; last seen here in November

I love this patchwork sweater and its random tassels.

I paired it with this velour pleated skirt - the gold colour is so radiant. 

Uh-oh, I think it got stuck on the buckle of my boot there. 

It was good for clambering in and out of the car. 

Masked up - for Mom, and for brunch after at Floyd's Diner. 

Outerwear - another grey day. 

Welcome to winter in Victoria. 

• Gloves - Parkhurst

The stuff: 

It felt weird to put jewelry on after a few days of not wearing any. 

• Brass/copper cuff - Karen's
• Brass/leather cuff - c. 1970s, Mom's
• Earrings - thrifted
• Spinner ring - Twang & Pearl
• Amber ring - c. 1996
• Bronze ring (not shown) - P. Sarpaneva, c. 1970, vintage expo

We traded a few more Christmas presents with Mom (thank you!) and she also gave me some of her unworn jewelry that I'd expressed an interest in. 

I remember Mom wearing this wonderful medallion necklace in the 70s. 

It's the zodiac signs, with a moon and star in the centre.

My dad bought this for her as a gift, from the Mexican Gift Shop (that was the actual name of it), which used to be where the Beehive Wool Shop is now (picture of it here). I remember going into that shop with Dad up to the late 70s - he bought me a plastic and silver ring there once, but I have no idea what happened to it. 

Anyway, this is indeed made in Mexico. Some digging around on the internet leads me to think this is a copy of the original sterling silver medallion by Alfredo Villasana, a Taxco piece produced in the 1920s or 30s. 

My/Mom's necklace is likely from the 60s. Cool! Thank you, Mom! 

She also passed along a couple of rings I'd remembered from when I was a kid.

The one on the left looks very much like that mid-century stuff by Robert Larin that I've been accumulating. 

It needs to be tightened up a bit for my skinny fingers. There are no marks on it anywhere. 

The blue stone ring has some nice stamped leaves on the band (also adjustable). 

It looks like some of the patina/black finish has rubbed off over time. I remember both of these from the mid-70s onward, so they are probably from the early 70s or slightly older. Again, thank you, Mom! You know I'll wear them. 

I walked up to Mom's house to check out her tree. 

Very nice! 

Mom's being "Vanna" and showing off the car. 

She wouldn't get in. "You'd both have to haul me out!" she exclaimed (yup, welcome to my world). 

She and L both had a chuckle over the lack of trunk space. 

Yeah, that will hold about three bags of groceries! 

We did a timer picture of the three of us. 

Good to see you, Mom! 

She also remembered that she had not one but TWO koala bear ornaments - I chose this one. 

It's from the last time she visited her brother in Melbourne. Now I have a koala for my animal collection! 

Speaking of ornaments...

My Childhood Ornaments

This is the last of my Christmas decorations, aside from the village, which I'm going to try to squish in and finish by New Year's Day, and these ones do not go on my tree. 

They live in a box in the closet - many years ago (maybe 30?), I spent a Christmas at Mom and Dad's going through their box of decorations and picking out all the ones that were "mine."

I made some of these, some were made for me, and some came taped to the top of my gifts from one of my two grandmothers. 

Vizzini helped me photograph these. 

"Quality control is important."

All of these are from between 1970 and the early 1980s, around when my grandmothers stopped putting ornaments on top of our gifts. My brother Dave (younger than me) got either a matching ornament or one slightly different. You know, treat the kids the same...

This plastic Santa came with sugar pellet candy inside him. That's quite a horrifying face - Santa, more sunblock! 

He was made in Hong Kong - he's one of the older ones here. Dave had one of these too. 

This is a velvet-flocked piece of styrofoam. 

Little glass mirrors and cording for decoration. Dave's ornament was a different shape. 

This dog is from a Ziggy collection. 

Dave had Ziggy, I got the dog.

I made this one myself! I remember a craft book full of stuff to cut out and make decorations. 

This - believe it or not! - is an angel. I decided she needed green hair. That's Phentex wool (about it here) which we always had around the house. 

This umbrella is made of some sort of wood fibre. 

I think Dave's was a fan? 

An early Disney ornament - this is either Chip or Dale, one of those mischievous chipmunks. 

He's plastic with flocking and faux fur. 

This is a very old angel. Mom has a collection of angels similar to this, which I loved. 

Her face is painted foam, and the rest of her is velvet-flocked cardboard. 

A bit of braid and some gold string for her hair. 

I think my grandmother (Mom's mother) made this one. 

I like the bit of foam forming the skate blade. It's all sewn by hand. 

This is a weird little skiing dog. 

He's felt and foam. 

This is a plastic snowman with flocking. 

Dave had the Santa. 

He had a red mouse version of my rabbit. 

He's foam-based, with a pipe-cleaner for wiring onto the tree. 

I think we made this Santa from printed fabric that also had other crafts you could make printed on it. 

We probably helped Mom cut this out, then sew some of this on her machine, then stuffed it ourselves (note the red Phentex wool hanger!). 

Vizzini break. 

"Are these ones for me to chew on?"

I know, I don't even have tissue around the decorations. Tsk. 

I don't remember where this little angel came from. 

But I've always liked it. 

This is my hair in the morning. 

I'm not sure where she came from - I don't have a lot of memories of her from my early childhood, so I think she was a later/early 80s one. 

She has a wooden spool inside her, so maybe Gram (Mom's mom) made her. 

I know Gram made this bell. 

She was really into this plastic canvas when it first came out. I remember place mats, all kinds of things made from it. 

I like this wooden soldier. 

"I concur. Please put it down for me to chew on."

Dave has a Santa or a snowman, can't remember. 

The parachute is cool. 

Gram made this bead and pipe-cleaner wreath. 

That brings back a lot of memories! 

I don't know where this tassel came from. 

It definitely feels very 80s. 

I'm sure Gram made this beaded bell too. 

There's even a beaded clapper. 

I remember she had these all over her own tree. 

If it's Phentex, then it likely came from Gram. 

She knitted a lot of slippers, and odds and ends of things for hospital auxiliaries. 

The blue jingle bell is the clapper. 

This felt horse head came with a candy cane. 

It looked like a hobby horse. 

This mouse is one I always remembered. 

The head and body are flocked foam with fabric and foiled paper decorations.  

These little elves totally take me back. 

He has a pipe-cleaner on the back to wire him to the tree. 

Dave has an orange one, I think. 

This is a really early one, from Grandma J (Dad's mom).

Dave has an iridescent blue bird like this. 

I remember being very taken with the whole iridescent thing when I was a kid. 

I have a few of these creepy-ass elves. 

They are classic 1960s. 

The pink, yellow, blue and green mix here is so NOT Christmassy! 

This one's an angry elf. 

Look at that furious face! 

Maybe he's mad at being in a box for 30 years?

Look what was in the bottom of the box! 

Red and blue tinsel! We reused our tinsel every year that I can remember, and there were only a few threads of the non-silver-coloured tinsel in the big bag of it. We were always told they were the oldest.

I've saved the best two for last, as I made these when I was very young. 

Glitter, felt, wool and some googly eyes. 

Yup, that's my writing. I learned to write when I was about 7 years old.

It's likely that I was 6 or 7 when I made these. 

Vizzini, how has all this Christmas stuff been for you? 

"Chewy."

Only a few more days and I'll take it all down, bud. 

How's your week been? Any adventures, or are you just chilling at home?