People who collect things understand obsession. Every once in awhile I experience that kind of object obsession, but it is small and it passes in time, so I am not an avid collector, merely a customer.
Because I was invited to a holiday party where each guest was to bring their earliest memory, I delved back again into Christmas past. I don't need and invitation to do that. Every holiday is in a layer of holidays and the older I get the more appeal and call my childhood seems to have.
I wrote a blog post on that topic already so I don't need to detail that 1945 to 1955 Christmas. In preparing for the party, however, I searched out an old photo of my brother and me at Christmas, him in an Indian headdress with a drum and me with a dollar carrier opened to display that Christmas' new doll.
My godfather, Neal Schmidt gave me those beautiful and expensive dolls every year, and I believe I did a post on the one who lives with me to this day. My brunette was apparently given to me a year before or a year after the one in the photograph who is a blonde. My 65 year long friend is an Effanbee walking doll. When she is put to bed, her eyes close and when she is standing, she walks and her head moves side to side. She still works perfectly though her shoulder joints need a new elastic. I replaced it once but no longer have a crochet hook which I needed to pull the elastic from one side to the other.
My Effanbee doll is sitting on the piano as I type this, in her new outfit, purchased from the Little House on the Prairie website. It was the perfect size to fit my doll, who is about 14 inches tall, and for once I was able to get shoes to fit her as well, prairie boots. She looks very nice. Over the years she had lost her hair but decades ago I was able to get her a decent wig which looks perfect.
To get back to the subject, the Red Mill Antiques, my purpose in going there today was to find the cardboard platform houses and some lead skating/skiing figures. I just HAD to have them, and though I unpacked and re-packed my 12 tubs of Christmas stuff diligently, I could NOT find my cardboard houses.
At the Red Mill I found one perfect skiing figure with ski poles intact (rare) which cost $12 because it was perfect - a great feat for someone about 60 years old. I found one acceptable though not ideal house for #4, very reasonable house. The one I had envisioned had cellophane windows and sparkle snow but this one is sans snow and cellophane windows and looks a bit more modern than the ones I remember, nonetheless, it is a bright blue and fits perfectly with the ski girl who is dressed in a jaunty red outfit. It makes a nice little alpine scene.
Mulch Hill, which is where the Red Mill Antiques is located, 1 South Main Street, Mullica Hill, to be exact, was decorated nicely and is a quaint and charming town to visit. I often go there for lunch at the Blue Plate. And you could spend an entire day at the Red Mill Antiques - two stories jammed from floor to ceiling with collectables and collections of every imaginable kind. The Christmas displays up and ready to tempt you to buy are like visiting the most adorable museum. I could get lost in that place and the memories it inspires. And the people there are so chatty and friendly it is delightful to visit.
If you haven't finished your Christmas shopping yet, let me make some suggestions. For people who are paring down, comestibles are always useful: cookies, tea and honey and a nice mug, or, a really good coffee. A gift that was a favorite according to the recipients in the past, was a gift bag with a movie (vcr for some years, then dvd) and Movie pop corn. That is no longer a viable gift since no one plays videos or dads anymore, so stick with the food stuff. And if you know someone had a favorite toy or doll or collection, you can always drop in at the Red Mill and find it, or an item to add to their collection. For example, I had a friend who collected and displayed Santa Clauses - She had well over a hundred, and you could find that rare Santa at the Red Mill. Another friend collected those little cardboard houses, a little harder to find these days, but the Emporium at Burlington had them last year. A fun gift I saw at the Red Mill were antique New Year's Eve noisemakers! I bought half a dozen last year for my daughter. The ones at the Red Mill were a bit older and a bit more expensive - $5 each, but if you bought 2, what a delightful and unusual gift!
Happy Trails, Happy Tales, and Happy Shopping!
Jo Ann
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