The Weekend After Thanksgiving

We are very far behind on our blog postings! This post is for the weekend after Thanksgiving. We hope to catch up soon!

After a nice Thanksgiving with family, we had three more days off and we knew, at some point, it would be time to start decorating for Christmas. It's a big task. We have a lot of Christmas things. We typically begin the day after Thanksgiving but not this year. Monica's childhood best friend (and someone Rob has known for 25 years), Gerilynne, was up from North Carolina. She, too, had some recent tragedy in her life, having endured the loss of her sister within the week. We saw her at the wake on Tuesday and made plans to spend some time together the day after Thanksgiving.

Thrifting was what we decided should begin the day. We wanted to donate some of Monica's mom's clothes and a few other things while we had a day off. Gerilynne had not been to a New York thrift shop in many, many years and she welcomed the opportunity and, of course, we don't mind thrifting either! 

We found several thrift stores to visit and, although the pickings were slim, we had fun

Lunch would have to be at All American Drive-In, a Long Island institution since 1963! It had been many, many years since Gerilynne was last here! 

We also decided to stop at the beach. Gerilynne is far from the ocean in her little corner of North Carolina and her last residence (in Colorado) was even further away. We stopped only long enough to walk down to the water and walk back, It was COLD!!!!

We also stopped to look at the Jones Beach Water Tower (which Long Islanders call "The Pencil"). It sits in the middle of a traffic circle at Jones Beach. Although we have all seen it a million times, we never grow tired of our pencil! 

It was great seeing our old friend and we wish it had been under better circumstances. We will try to visit her in the near future! 

Saturday morning came and the start to our Christmas decorating would have to wait. After all, it was Saturday and that meant saling! The weekend after Thanksgiving never brings with it a lot of opportunities but we did find one sale of interest. With a list that was too short to actually be called a list, we optimistically pointed our car in the right direction and off we went! 

The sale was run by a tag sale company that we have known for many years. There was nothing specifically that we were tracking down. The pictures in the ad simply pointed to opportunity and, on a day that did not overflow with opportunity, that would be enough.

Our first stop was the garage which did not have anything that captured our attention...except this box. It was sitting just outside the garage and we have loved to find its contents somewhere outside or inside the house. It was not to be,

The house had three floors of old mixed with new. This stove was one of "the old". It was in great condition! 

A closer look at the oven

Another thing that was old...this cool chair. It sat upstairs in one of the rooms. Although we did not come home with it, we did find a few things of interest and brought home several 7 inch records, some Christmas things, some books, some rubber ducks and a few other things.

We spent the remainder of the day running errands, catching up on a few chores and relaxing. The last two weeks had been taxing. Christmas decorating could wait until Sunday.

Of course, Sunday morning arrived and we were ready for more saling. We typically keep Sunday for housework but going to just one sale the day before left us wanting more. Luckily, there was a sale that looked promising on Sunday. Spoiler alert...we went! 

We arrived to find the dreaded line which, I guess, did not surprise either of us greatly. We arrived not too long after the doors opened and the choices were slim over the weekend. There were very few other opportunities. Fortunately, the line did move and within thirty minutes, we were inside. 

Well...we got inside. The flamingos next door were left out in the cold.

One of the first rooms we encountered was the main floor bathroom. It was pink!

Look at that sink! Look at that counter top! 

That's right...the counter top was boomerang! 

The house was packed with hunters and we spent over an hour combing through three floors of various stuff. When our visit was over, we had amassed some Christmas things, lots and lots of vintage greeting cards, some books, some old squeak toys and lots more! It was a good sale!

Just down the road, there was a Christmas Fair at a German restaurant and the sale advertised having a white elephant table. That is always worth a look! 

It was packed with tables AND with people! Monica was excited about the possibilities and was all too willing to pose for a picture. We searched this whole room (and a few others that had tables) but came up with nothing. That was okay...we still had lots of fun!

Here are some of the things that came home with us this weekend:

A vintage sweater for Monica

Some books

Some 12 inch records

Some 7 inch records

Some more 7 inch records

Some 7 inch Christmas records

A scrapbook filed with vintage greeting cards

Another scrapbook filled with vintage greeting cards

ANOTHER scrapbook filled with vintage greeting cards

Some cocktail stirrers

Rubber ducks!

Elephant squeak toys, an old plastic clown ornament, an old Easter rabbit, a pair of sweetheart ducks, a hard stock beer coaster, a pair of chalkware angels (marked Japan) and an old cat pin for Monica

A giant Styrofoam Santa head

A pair of Christmas wall hangings and a Christmas candy dish/candle holders set. All are marked Japan

Some ceramic Santa head mugs (marked Japan), a pair of vintage Christmas glasses and a couple of Christmas ornaments.

It was a fun-filled weekend that found us spending time with family and friends, saling and, most of all, spending time with each other. Oh...and we did eventually begin our Christmas decorating although it was not until 5pm on Sunday. We put in a solid four hours and progress was made but there is a long way to go. We'll keep you posted!