Our Adventures Amongst The Ducks: The Week Before Christmas

Christmas was just ahead now. We finished almost of our Christmas decorating during the week but wanted to add a few more touches during the weekend. It has been a very busy holiday season; a little stressful at times as we tried to meet our own self-imposed deadlines but, together, we knew we would get everything accomplished.

The weekend before Christmas is usually a slow one for sales. Many tag sale companies just want the time off and, of course, the casual hunter may not have time to attend sales the week before Christmas. Sellers know this. Foot traffic translates into better profits. There is no reason to force a sale into a weekend where traffic might be lighter. We expected fewer opportunities this weekend. Still, we found some with potential and, after compiling our list on Friday night, we set our course. Off we went!

Sale #1 was run by an estate sale company that we know. The pictures in the ad just shouted "old". Amongst those picture were some old glass Christmas ornaments. We rarely buy them unless they are in their original boxes because we just have too many. It would be unlikely that we would buy any more but we did hope that other vintage Christmas things could be found here.

The door on the left had a great old screen door. We were hoping for more "old" inside!

It was a small house and there was not a lot of territory to search. Everywhere we went, we saw things that kept telling us that the house was old.

The way the thumb tacks were arranged on the bulletin board, we were very hopeful that Christmas was always on the minds of the former residents. Unfortunately, the only old Christmas items we saw were the ones in the pictures...old glass ornaments. We did see a few other things of interest and would up bringing home a few books and a vintage glass. And, on the way out, we peeked in the dumpster in the driveway and found two vintage potholders. They came home with us for free!

Sale #2 was run by one of our favorite tag sale companies. We have a tendency, when in the area, to stop at their tag sale even if we don't think there will be anything for us...simply to say hello. There was nothing specific in their ad that caught our eyes but there were elements of the house that appeared old and that means potential.

The first floor had lots of the newer Christmas village pieces which are things that we do not collect. We were fascinated by this retro McDonald's Restaurant. It looked like the ones we remember from our childhood. We wish they all still looked like this.

There were two floors to search and there was some old clothing in some of the closets. This jacket definitely dates back to the 1950's and Rob wished it were a different color. If it was black or red or even a darker blue, it would have come home with us. We did find some vintage Hawaiian shirts for Rob and they did come home with us. Some cookbooks, a pair of old record racks and a few records also came home with us.

Our next stop along the way would be breakfast. We always stop for food during our Saturday saling adventures. Christmas could be seen everywhere along the way. We even saw blow molds in truck hoists high in the sky!

Sale #3 was not heavily advertised and we thought it might be a sleeper. The description of the sale told us that it was old. It was an estate sale run by the family. There were only two rooms to search and there really wasn't a lot there but, what was there was old. A quick search of the house brought us several records, an Indian thermometer and some drinking glasses from the 1970's.

Our final sale was run by an estate sale company that is very active but not one whose sales we often go. For whatever reason, a majority of their sales are on Sundays and we typically spend Sundays doing other things. There was nothing that drew us specifically to this sale. Like most of the sales we compiled on our list this week, we saw hints of an old house.

There were lots of old dolls (though none more scary than this) and that was good for the doll collectors. That was not what we were after. We hoped to find some old Christmas things but there was not much. What was there was lots of records and lots of postcards; some of which came home with us. We also found some cocktail stirrers, some old tiki mugs and a few other things.

We spent the rest of Saturday putting the final touches on our Christmas decorating and Sunday would be ours to do with whatever we wished. It didn't take long for us to decide what it was that we wanted to do. It would start with, once again, saling!

There was one sale that interested us on Sunday. It was being run by a tag sale company with which we have had a lot of success. The pictures in the ad featured many old tin toys from the 1940's and we knew that they would be in great demand and that they would be expensive. We are not collectors of tin toys. We do have a few that Monica's dad gave to us. They were his from the 1940's and we love them!

We decided that there was no rush to get to this sale at the opening. The toy collectors would line up early and we knew that we would never see any of the toys in person. They would be long gone. What we did see in the pictures was one old plastic snowman and one old wind-up rubber duck. Rob wanted them both. We did not expect to see them but we hoped for the best.

There were only two small floors to search and the house was filled with great old cabinets but not too much else. The tin toys, as we suspected, were long gone. What wasn't gone was the snowman and the rubber duck and we came home with both of them. We also found some ceramic whistle mugs (both made in Japan) and a booklet.

Here are some of the things we got over the weekend:

Some records

Some more records

Even more records

Dance records

Christmas records

More Christmas records

Some books

A canary care booklet

Some old postcards

Some old cocktail stirrers

A pair of vintage potholders

A pair of record racks for 7 inch records

Drinking glass giveaways from the 1970's

Some old tiki mugs and an old package of whistle cocktail stirrers

Two ceramic whistle mugs (made in Japan) and a vintage drinking glass

An old Hawaiian shirt for Rob (made in Hawaii)

Another old Hawaiian shirt for Rob (also made in Hawaii)

An Indian thermometer and a wind-up rubber duck

Some Christmas things

After our brief Sunday saling, it was time to go see Santa. It was time to visit Hicks Nurseries.

Since we were kids, each of us went with our families to visit to Hicks Nursery around Christmastime. It has become our tradition together for years now