Flashback - The Third Week Of December, 2019

Estate saling and, for that matter, physical social interaction remain off limits for the near future as we avoid the coronavirus epidemic. While we wait it out, we're covering the six month hiatus on our blog flashback style. This post recaps the the third week in December, 2019.

The third weekend in December only provided us with one sale of interest. Estate sales dwindle in number as Christmas and New Year's Day approaches so this sale might just be our last sale of 2019. Before the weekend even approached, we bought one thing on line which is something we rarely do but this was on Facebook marketplace and it was in our town so pickup would be easy. Here's what we found:

A great vintage creepy Santa! 

Now, for the sale. It was listed as a cleanout with mid-century novelties and it had a great story. The homeowner's dad owned a dime store in the 1950's and we couldn't wait to see what might lie inside. 

Evidently, there were a lot of people who couldn't wait to see what was inside. We were here over an hour earlier than the start time and we wound up with these numbers. 

After a wait, we got inside. The sale was run by some fellow salers who we know and chat with before sales. There were some cool dime store novelties in their original packages but the prices, though fair, were not in line with our level of interest.

There were lots of little things spread around the basement including several pennants but they had been picked through by those getting inside first and we did not find any keepers.

There was a cool basement bar. 

Lots of shelves and lots of areas to search but, in the end, it was records that we bought. Lots of records and a few other things came home with us. 

After getting some breakfast, we took our annual trip to Hicks Nurseries which transforms itself into a Christmas themed wonderland every December. We used to go with our families when we were kids and we have been making this trip together for years. Hicks has been around since 1853! 

The entrance told us that they were ready for us.

Lots of poinsettias!

Santa is in! 

We waited on line for an hour to meet Santa and it was worth the wait! 

The kids got ready for the Christmas band to play. 

And away they played! 

There were lots of Christmas villages on display including this snow village.

The snow village had a Dairy Queen and a candy shop.

It had a cool diner too! 

There was a "Christmas In The City" display.

A closer view of the Christmas city

An English castle

The North Pole

Santa and his reindeer were flying around! 

Another view of The North Pole

The North Pole's tree factory

Every year, Hicks has an interactive display and it is different every year. This year, it was Cookies for Santa.

Every display is animated. There were moving polar bears, penguins and deer. 

Two more of the animated displays. Our visit here is always fun! 

When we got home, we had lots of things to look at even if most of those things were records. Here is what we saw:

Herman's Hermits records. We actually have both of these already but we got them both autographed by Peter Noone so now we have two more records for him to autograph the next time we see him! 

Two Burl Ives records

Two Bing Crosby records

Two Sammy Davis Jr records

Two Danny Kaye records

Hawaiian records

More Hawaiian records and one exotica record

More records

Some more records

A few more records

Even more records

More records. We told you we got a lot of records! 

Records

Three more records

Two more records

Christmas records

Some vintage garden books

More books

Two Fisher Price people, a vintage handheld game, a pick from the 1964-1964 New York World's Fair and a Pan Am cocktail stirrer

It was a fun weekend and just a few days before Christmas! We have been in that Christmas spirit all month and the season is always merrier when spent together!