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Christmas

Your oldest Christmas decoration?

(56 Posts)
Witzend Tue 26-Nov-19 08:09:06

We still have a top of the tree fairy made by a dd out of a gold doiley etc. at nursery when she was 3. She's 42 now.

Also still have 3 plastic bells, different colours, that go back a lot longer, to when I was a small child and we only ever had a little tree that was dug up from the garden every year, poor thing. I loved them then and could never get rid of them, though anybody else would very likely think them only fit for the bin now.

Nothing very old and beautiful I'm afraid, though I'm sure others will have.

Iam64 Tue 26-Nov-19 21:39:04

Three Santas and 3 bells from the early 1950's, plus almost every other tree decoration made or bought since the early 1970's when I had my own house for the first time. I had a smaller tree last year and it could hardly be seen for stuff.I do think about downsizing.....

Thorntrees Tue 26-Nov-19 21:15:45

I have a little Christmas tree about 4ins high in a little red pot that my mother bought in Woolworths when she was a little girl so that would be about 1935.
I saw one mentioned on an antique programme a few years ago and I think it cost just a few pence at the time which Mum would have had to save up to buy.
It means a lot to me so really hope it will stay in the family.

SueDonim Tue 26-Nov-19 14:16:46

Nothing as old as some of the decorations mentioned here but I still have some that we bought when we first married, so they're 45+ years old.

There's a glass bell, with a tiny clapper inside, in silver & turquoise shades. Also a glass church, with a snowy roof. I still love a tiny bauble in pale green with a frosty design outlined in it. I remember buying that, in a department store when my son was in his coach built pram.

They truly bring me joy each year when I get them out. ❤️

TerriBull Tue 26-Nov-19 13:54:55

A big sparkly papier mache bauble one of my children made in the infants, he's 30 soon so that makes the tree decoration mid twenties or so.

Gonegirl Tue 26-Nov-19 13:16:29

I always feel sorry for my fairy with those pointy needles up her botty dress for three weeks at a time. She keeps smiling though.

Gonegirl Tue 26-Nov-19 13:14:31

Sounds really lovely.

Mapleleaf Tue 26-Nov-19 13:11:09

Well, I posted earlier, but my post seems to have disappeared, so I’ll try again.
I have a fairy which sits on top of the tree that is about 73 or 74 years old - it was bought towards the end of the war, I believe ( before I was born).
She has kept her colours quite well considering her age, with a pink dress made with netting, silver wings made from silver card and lovely blue eyes. She is of huge sentimental value, so I will never part with her.

Sarahmob Tue 26-Nov-19 13:02:00

I have a bauble that was bought for my first Christmas (I’m 55)
It’s a glass pear drop and is one of my favourite baubles. I still hang it every year (but very carefully as I’d be really sad if I broke it).

EllanVannin Tue 26-Nov-19 12:21:23

It has to be a small suede Christmas stocking with a little bottle of sweet-pea perfume ( never used ) about 50 years old and goes on the tree every year.
Plenty of other oldish things come out for an airing too.

Greyduster Tue 26-Nov-19 11:45:47

We have a couple of glass baubles that go back to the early seventies, but years of moving stuff round the world from one army quarter to another gradually took its toll of their predecessors. Our Father Christmas tree topper was bought in Holland in 1978, and is showing his age, but we continue hold him in our affections!

sunseeker Tue 26-Nov-19 11:09:27

I have some tinsel which my parents used to drape around the walls when I was a child. I also have the little glass baubles DH and I bought the first Christmas after we got married, some of the glitter has come off but I wouldn't part with them for the world.

BBbevan Tue 26-Nov-19 11:00:37

We have a few scratched glass baubles from 1965 , when we were first married

morethan2 Tue 26-Nov-19 10:08:33

I wish I had something from my parents or even my own childhood but I don’t. The best I can do is a nativity set from Germany bought around 1980. A small chain made out of rolled up silver paper from cigarette packets made by my then 7 year old daughter at school she’s 40. So no antiques here I’m afraid. Every year I display my photographs of my children taken with father christmas at large stores when they were small.......they hate them smile. I love em they bring back such wonderful,happy memories.

Gonegirl Tue 26-Nov-19 09:55:22

I've still got some Blue Peter ones I made with my girls. Very pretty too. They had some good ideas that lot.

Grammaretto Tue 26-Nov-19 09:53:20

I wrapped empty matchboxes in pretty paper to hang on the tree back in the 1970s. There is still one left.
The chldren always hoped they had real presents inside and tore them open only to be disappointed.
Maybe I'll revive the idea for the DGC.but with a sweetie inside.

We still have our original 1970 star made of cardboard & covered in tin foil.

ninathenana Tue 26-Nov-19 09:47:42

I have a tin ?? bauble in the shape of a little house with a green roof. It used to hang on the tree at home when I was a child.

Gonegirl Tue 26-Nov-19 09:46:11

I do remember our fairy doll from my childhood. She was made of celluloid and had a blue gauze dress. She was lovely.

Gonegirl Tue 26-Nov-19 09:44:35

I don't have any really old decorations. I bought a little blond haired doll when I was in my twenties and first had a Christmas tree of my own. I dressed her and made her wand.She comes out each year and her head gets wobblier and wobblier each time.

I still treasure my old tinsel from those days. It was when tinsel was much "skinnier". And somehow prettier.

Septimia Tue 26-Nov-19 09:27:24

The Christmas tree fairy that we used when I was a child. It still goes on the tree every year. I made her a new dress some years ago but her wand is the original one.

I have a feeling she came from my grandparents but even if not she must be pushing 70!

M0nica Tue 26-Nov-19 09:19:40

I have Christmas decorations from both my parents childhoods. Some metal clip on candle holders from my mother and some soft toy ones from my father's. This would date them to the 1920s/30s,

If they were bought in my childhood, that would take them into the 1940s as I can remember them on the tree in the late 1940s

gmarie Tue 26-Nov-19 09:03:03

The Christmas stocking that my mom made for me when I was a baby. Unfortunately, years ago our sweet old Sammi (shepherd mix) tore it up along with the other stockings on Christmas Eve trying to get to the goodies. Still have the shredded old thing. Wish Mom was still here, too. And Sammi. And, and, and...

Teetime Tue 26-Nov-19 08:57:56

I dont ay very old ones but I have a precious one given to me by my daughter probably about 15 years ago. Its a little owl with golden wings and a clear body. I send her a photo of the Christmas Owl every year.
I buy her a couple of tree ornaments every year sometimes funny sometimes pretty. This year I bought her a sparkly dinosaur from JL.

Whitewavemark2 Tue 26-Nov-19 08:57:35

Post war Christmas tree lights were difficult to find. My grandfather walked miles to find some.

I still have the little shades with nursery rhymes and pantomime images on them. Sadly the little lights have gone.

GrannyLaine Tue 26-Nov-19 08:53:57

I have a set of small glass baubles, still in their original box that date to the early 50s. One is missing, a pink pine cone edged in glitter that was my very favourite: as a tiny child I held it so tight that it broke. They bring back so many wonderful memories of Christmas, so poignant as it will be my first without my Mum. She died in April at the grand age of 96.

Maggiemaybe Tue 26-Nov-19 08:53:03

I have two very tatty but much-loved ornaments from my DM and DMIL’s trees. One a plastic ballerina with one leg out back as I regularly fail to do at yogalates, the other five tiny glass baubles bound together with brown knitting wool. The beautiful traditional glass baubles of my childhood are long gone. DMIL had put some beauties away when she went all modern in the 90s, but sadly they went to the tip when we cleared her house (I was seriously considering going down to dig for them when I found out a couple of days later!). We have a couple the DC made, including a little Christmas box on which DD2 wrote “My nekliss, kepe out!!!!”. smile