Trying Not to Rush to Christmas

I am sure I am not the only person who hates the early rush to Christmas that retailers push on us each year.  It really does start at a beyond ridiculous level when I see a Large Warehouse Store starts with their sparkles in late September.

Antique stores lag a bit behind with bringing out the Christmas inventory--but not by much.  A dealer friend tells me that he makes his seasonal antique and vintage sales in November and by the first of December his Christmas merchandise no longer sells. He feels people have bought all their personal decorating bits by then and for the rest of the season are focusing on other people--not their own decorating needs

We don't sell much Christmas merchandise.  I actually don't really look for it as we are inventory shopping.  It doesn't make much sense to me to shop specially for things that you can only have in a booth for a month-ish.  Nothing looks more stale than leftover Christmas inventory that seeps into January or February.

This year we have found a few things--but you won't find them at Odana Antiques in Madison until after Thanksgiving.

I love to fill sleighs with vintage ornaments--ready to use centerpieces.

 Bottle brush trees are a great seller when I can find them.  This one is quite large and in great original condition.  Don't be fooled by the million reproductions on the market.

 This is the side panel detail on a great store display sleigh from the 1930s.

Remember these you children of the 1960s???  This is a very large pine cone and nut cluster table tree.  Really great condition and the base is made out of old advertising wood.

 Here is a larger view of the store display sled. 

A real find.  How many of these can there be???  I can't even fit it in the same picture.  This is one of those 1940s canvas Xmas Trees banners with ropes that would hang on the outside of a Christmas Tree lot.  This is particularly neat as my grandfather had a Wisconsin Tree Farm and sold trees each year.  This treasure is about 12 feet long and will soon be in out booth.  Not for sale this year though....

I guess people do look for Christmas early.  The staff at Odana had to pull this out of our storage as a customer who saw it last year wanted to buy it.  An incredible 1930s motion store display.  And we sold it at Halloween.