A vintage Santa waits inside a vintage vehicle at the recent “Vintage Christmas in the Barn” holiday market in Cannon City. The holiday sale is over. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2024)
DO MOST KIDS STILL BELIEVE in Santa Claus? Or at least the magic of Santa? I hope so.
There’s something profoundly wonderful about Santa. He represents the best in all of us. He listens. He’s always happy. He loves cookies and milk. And he doesn’t promise us the moon. To do so would not be in our best interests, although a child with a long list of wants may disagree.
Generations of kids have wondered what they will find under the tree at Christmas. This scene is inside the barn at the recent “Vintage Christmas in the Barn” holiday sale. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2024)
There was a time when I paged through the Sears & Roebuck Christmas catalog looking for toys I thought I needed. It really was a futile effort as I never got them anyway. But I was dreaming as every child is wont to do before Christmas. Except, I think, in 2024 kids are more likely to get what they want.
Outdoor decor for sale at “Vintage Christmas in the Barn” earlier in the holiday season. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2024)
I wonder what Santa thinks of all the requests today. Would he prefer to hire elves who are skilled only in woodworking versus computer programming? Would he prefer simpler toys that engage the imagination and spark creativity to so many electronics? Does his head spin when he inventories the ever-growing number of gadgets and batteries piling up at the North Pole?
Holiday goods for sale at “Vintage Christmas in the Barn.” (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2024)
Just thinking about everything Santa needs to keep straight makes my head spin. At least he’s contracted with others to help in gift delivery. I never thought one team of reindeer could possibly handle the job. Santa can’t do everything. There’s a lot of pressure to get gifts delivered on time. (Thank you, postal workers, and others.)
An oversized, handcrafted wooden Santa greets shoppers at “Vintage Christmas in the Barn.” (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2024)
Despite all of the changes through the decades, Santa remains as popular as ever, so it seems to me. Parents still plop crying babies on Santa’s lap for photos. Kids approach the Jolly Old Guy with a mix of trepidation and hope. In the end, Santa still holds a sense of wonder that remains timeless through the generations. And therein lies the magic of Santa. Do you believe?
A creative merchandise display inside the barn at “Vintage Christmas in the Barn,” which featured old stuff for sale inside a barn, an outbuilding and outdoors. My older brother had a Tonka digger. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2024)
MENTION THE WORD “vintage” and I’m all in. Perhaps it’s my age. But probably not. I’ve always preferred the stuff of yesteryear to the stuff of today. For that reason, I am drawn to shops, garage sales and other places selling antiques, primitives, collectibles, second hand and vintage.
The site of the recent holiday market, “Vintage Christmas in the Barn,” in Cannon City. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2024)
This time of year, especially, “old” is out there, including in Cannon City, where Debbie Glende, aka The Crabby Wren, opens her outbuildings for occasional seasonal sales. Her holiday market, “Vintage Christmas in the Barn,” is no longer open. But it got me thinking about how much I appreciate the goods of yesteryear. And how this old stuff can make an ideal Christmas gift. It’s even a bit trendy now, especially with the younger generation, to shop thrift stores. Repurpose, reuse and keep stuff out of the landfill.
I recycled festive holiday trim and a card from Christmases past to decorate this gift. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)
I’ve been doing this for a long time. Buying used, using goods passed down to me from family, even gifting second hand. And, yes, I save and reuse gift bags, tissue paper, ribbons and bows and recycle greeting cards as gift tags, all to the ridicule of my siblings. Let ’em laugh. Mom would be proud that I’m following her thrifty example.
A paint-by-number winter scene painted by my Great Grandma Anna and currently displayed in my home for the holidays. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)
If you were to step into my home, you would find lots of vintage. I have collections of vintage glassware, which I use daily; vintage tablecloths, pulled out whenever I have dinner guests; and vintage art (including paint-by-number), displayed throughout my home.
My vintage early 1970s vinyl with two songs by Bob Dylan. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo December 2024)
And then there’s my vinyl collection including a recording of a young Michael Jackson of The Jackson 5 singing “I’ll Be There” in a high-pitched voice. I got that record as a Christmas gift in 1970. Likewise my vinyl of heartthrob David Cassidy making his case in “I Think I Love You” with The Partridge Family. I can still belt out the words as that love song blasts on a garage sale turntable. And not to be forgotten, Minnesota native Bob Dylan with his ballad “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.” That’s especially timely with the Christmas release of “A Complete Unknown,” a movie about Dylan. Yes, I like vintage.
Gathering with extended family in my home for a Thanksgiving dinner around George and Clara’s table many years ago. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)
My dining room table, of unknown vintage, came from George and Clara’s home, purchased at George’s farm auction after he passed. The couple lived a few sections over from my childhood home near Vesta. For the past four decades plus, my family has gathered around that large oval wooden table with the graceful, curved legs. We’ve shared thousands of meals, talked and laughed and, yes, even cried. Kids did their homework there. Grandkids drew. Tabletop dings mark memories.
The 1960s amber glasses purchased for my mom and which I now have and use daily. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)
Perhaps that’s the appeal of vintage. The memories. Vintage connects me to my past or to loved ones. When I drink from textured amber glasses, I think of my mom. The glasses were purchased at Marquardt’s Hardware Store in Vesta as a Mother’s Day gift for her sometime in the 1960s. They are a tactile reminder of Mom, who died in January 2022.
My Aunt Rachel crafted and gifted this to my mom in the 1960s. Now I have the tree and hang it in my home at Christmas. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)
The handcrafted pinecone Christmas tree, which my beloved Aunt Rachel made for my mom in the 1960s, now hangs in my home each December. In the dining room, within view when dining at George and Clara’s table.
Atop a vintage chest of drawers (one my dad and his older brother used as children) in my living room, six plastic angels gather as part of the Shiny Brite Christmas Angel Band. My brother Doug and I bought the tiny figurines for Mom at a hardware store in Echo. A Christmas gift sometime in the 1960s.
Vintage outdoor holiday decorations like this were for sale at “Vintage Christmas in the Barn.” (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2024)
Vintage. Whether viewed inside or outside a barn in Cannon City, in my home or in a local shop, these goods of bygone days spark memories, ignite joy, remind me of the passage of time. Will my adult children or grandkids care about any of this after I’m gone? Maybe. But I expect they will wonder why Mom/Grandma kept all this old stuff. Perhaps they will choose a piece or two to keep as a memory of me. And then they will box up the rest, wondering who the heck David Cassidy is and why I needed all those vintage tablecloths and drinking glasses and what’s with this pinecone Christmas tree?
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