Nostalgia

Is it age that makes us nostalgic? The tough times that we face in our lives? A combination of the two? What makes us reach back into our childhood memories, and even the lives of our parents and prompts us to surround ourselves with things that we grew up with?

As we get older we seem to have a need to surround ourselves with familiar things, those that we once loved and lost for whatever reason, or those that we never had and always wanted.

I've had a fascination with antiques and old stuff for as long as I can remember. I started collecting red/white and green/white handled kitchen hand tools from the 30s and 40s when I was still in my mid twenties. I displayed them hanging on a kitchen wall for years. I also had a ton of advertising tins, both old and new. I bought my first Texas Ware bowl at a garage sale for less than $3, then purchased two more via eBay (mine for use though, not merely display). I collected old buttons, old dice, advertising art, even vintage cameras. Though I've sorted and given away most of my collections, I still have and display the cameras on shelving throughout the house, adding to the collection whenever I find something unique (and affordable).

A few years ago I tried to sell my mothers Hall Autumn Leaf mixing bowls. Those bowls had stood the test of time in our family kitchen, mixing up dough for cookies, and who knows what else. They have no chips, no visual wear aside from the gold leaf around the rim being worn. They're heavy duty. They've survived a long time.

I still have them thanks to the lady I tried to sell them to. When I approached her about putting them in her shop on consignment, she asked where they had come from, and why I wanted to part with them. She insisted that I take them back home and reconsider.

I put the bowls in the kitchen and started reaching for them whenever I needed a mixing bowl. I'm thankful now that I still have them. Using them brings back memories of my mother.

Vintage Christmas ornaments??? I've long had a thing for those (especially the fabulous shapes and colors of those from the 50s). I've collected various ones over time as I find them at antique stores around the area. Some of them are in surprisingly good condition. Some I even remember from the trees of my childhood. Ornaments that I'm sure my mother collected throughout her own married life.

During my own....22 years of Hallmark ornaments (we no longer collect), and more Margaret Furlong angels than I can count.

It's horrifying to see things I grew up with labeled as 'vintage' (though the term has become rather loose), but I guess we all get to that point eventually. Things like Shiny Bright ornaments bring back memories ( and sell for ridiculous prices - even in very poor condition), as do spaghetti trimmed Santa banks (I'm still in search of one particular design in good condition), aluminum trees with color wheels, and various other things.

A few nights ago hubby mentioned how much he had loved the red silk ball ornaments his parents had had one their tree when he was a kid. Problem was, so did the various cats and kittens that his family had over the years. lol The ornaments, being fragile to begin with, didn't survive very long.

Yesterday on one of my forays into Goodwill, I couldn't believe it when I saw a bundled bag of red and blue silk ornaments (with a few broken glass ones thrown in - that was smart). I bought the bag for half price ($1.50) and sorted through. Most of the silk balls were salvageable and I'm pretty sure they're vintage. They're in awfully good condition, but someone could have had them stored in the attic for years. The ornaments beyond help I've removed the silk from and will keep the foam ball for future craft purposes.

I surprised hubby with the ornaments last night. He couldn't believe it.

Of course there are also the childhood toys...Lite Bright, Whee-lo, Etch-a-Sketch, Hoola-Hoop, Kiddles Kologne dolls (the 2" dolls came in a little plastic bottle and smelled of various flowers), Colorforms, and a toy called Footsie (Lemon Twist to some of you), that it's taken me forever to figure out the name of (I actually found it this morning! lol), board games (Monopoly, Parcheesi, Sorry - I still have my originals), and of course View Master reels and viewers. When I was a kid we had an old projector and I would sit in up in my room, pull the curtains, turn off the lights, and view my reels on the 'big screen' of my bedroom wall.

When my generation were kids, we didn't have the iPads and other electronics of today, we had games that you had to touch and strategize with, and we had our imagination.