Christmas Thrifting in July

It’s July and halfway through the year which means it’s halfway to Christmas. I thrift shop for Christmas all year round and occasionally make some bigger finds like Christopher Radko trains and cookie jars and occasionally larger Fitz & Floyd pieces. Today I’m going to showcase some ornament finds since the beginning of the year. These are smaller and often found in ones or twos while looking through larger collections of ornaments in stores or estate sales. So welcome to the Blog today, Friends.

I usually have two trees each year. The formal tree is in the Great Room and holds ornaments that have been collected over the years. It’s the tree the Family decorate usually with hot toddies and Christmas music playing. Then there’s the theme tree. This tree changes from year to year and I’m planning a Woodland tree for this Christmas. I’ve been on the lookout for ornaments that would fit that theme. In the picture above I have a couple of examples. The owls are really cute and would fit right in with a Woodland tree. The ponies are from a collectible collection but I thought they might work. They’re really colorful and each one is different. Always a fun thing for ornaments.

For our Family Tree I have collections of ornaments I hope to pass along to my daughter. “The Partridge in a Pear Tree ” is a favorite Christmas song for all of us and we sing it (quite loudly) during the holidays. The Waterford Crystal collection of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” is lovely and I pick then up wherever I can. Above you can see the pipers piping and the drummers drumming from the set. When they are on the tree they really sparkle in the tree lights.

Wedgwood ornaments are another favorite that I pick up when I can. Here is Santa in the signature white on blue of the Wedgewood Company.

Another recent addition is this Wedgewood Star. Really pretty.

Lenox, “Twelve Days of Christmas” ornaments are another favorite. I found six of them recently and a few months ago a collection of another six. They are made in white porcelain with gold outlining the various designs. The first one I found four or five years ago was 50 cents. They are a bit more now but occasionally I can find them for $1 or so. The last one pictured is rare and hard to find. It is also about $90 on Ebay. I was so excited to find this one in a lot of six. People like it because the swans form a heart at the top of the ornament. These were loose and didn’t have boxes but I’m not interested in selling them on so that’s okay.

I also pick-up other Lenox ornaments when I find them for a dollar or two. This snowflake is really pretty and was about a dollar.

These ornaments are fun to look for at the Thrift Store. You never know when you will find one in a box or on a shelf. That’s part of the appeal for Thrift Store shopping.