Longing for A Very Vintage Thanksgiving (oh but theres a SALE too....)

Thanksgiving when I was little was very small and homespun.  I grew up in Minnesota with no extended family nearby, so my small, struggling family of five celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas without all the usual hub-bub surrounding the holidays. There were no exhausting car trips all over the state visiting people that really didn't want to see you anyway. Dad was on his La-z-boy recliner watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and then the football game with my brother, not white-knuckling it on a country road in a developing snowstorm.

 My mother's kitchen smelled of basting herbed turkey and her kitchen cabinets were decorated with carefully cutout images from magazines depicting vintage holiday scenes, happy families dining, and festive decorating ideas.  We always had the same meal each year: sage stuffing, corn and bean succotash, butterball turkey, white rolls and the jellied cranberry sauce.  The sauce was a mystery to me in how it had been extracted from the can so it lay in a perfectly rippled, molded state in the carousel glass dish.  Thrilled at being out of school on holiday but without much to do, I'd spend my time hovering around the table watching her preparations and marveling at all the different colors in that amber toned dish.  She would set the table with her white china dishes that were only used for special occasions.  They each had a single red rose etched into the center of each dish and were simple and elegant.  I came to find out as an adult that she obtained those dishes one at a time in a supermarket promo.  Ah, the days before credit cards, when it actually took time to obtain your prized possessions.  I rarely see those dishes anymore. Mom is in her 70s and prefers to use festive paper plates so the clean up is less tiring, but those old magazine cutouts are still taped on the wooden cupboard doors.  When the fine dishes have made a rare appearance along with the familiar cooking smells, I am filled with the awe of looking at a childhood memory through my now adult eyes.  

Over the years my family of five has changed and grown and shrunk with the changes that come with altered relationships, long distance moves and the growing of children.  This year will mark the first year my mother has not had a thanksgiving dinner as she has accepted an invitation from a younger in-law who will host a gathering.  I and my young children will be shuffled off to my husband's enormous multi-generational family gathering in southern Minnesota.  I fear my little homespun thanksgiving has forever been altered by the now customary driving all over the state to attend extended relatives gatherings.  Yet, I am thankful for the memories my mother gave me and that fact that despite a strict budget, she created wonderful memories for me.  My challenge is to try to recreate holiday memories for my own children.  With the help of etsy and the internet, I've tracked down a lot of vintage Christmas decor that we had when I was little along with the wonderful bubble lights for the tree.  But Thanksgiving?  I'm sad to say my cupboard doors are bare.  Maybe its time to get some old magazines off etsy and a pair of scissors.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Oh, and as I promised..... Jojo's big annual sale info:

SALE SALE SALE 
JOJO'S ETSY THANKSGIVING SALE
starts on....Thanksgiving!  Tomorrow through Cyber Monday, receive 20% off and free gift wrapping on ENTIRE SHOP starting at midnight tonight- so mark your favorites today!  Get that fab vintage holiday party dress for a song! :-)

Additionally, starting Black Friday, Jojo's is participating in the Vintage Market Team's fantastic sale- search all members offerings with search term VMTEAMBFCMSALE.  Etsy sellers will also start their sale with the tags BLACKFRIDAYETSY, CYBERMONDAYETSY, and FREESHIPPINGETSY.

Random Vintage Memories

“Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary.” Cecil Beaton

1985- The old Ragstock years- me in downtown Minneapolis- vintage coat, hairscarf, belt.

I wish I had my vintage wardrobe of 1985. I was a Minneapolis street rat that used to scavenge in the barrels at the old Ragstock warehouse in downtown Minneapolis, where you could get orgasmically cool 60s scooter dresses and 50s organza party dresses for $5 a pop. Pair them with a pair of tights, your combat boots and a wig and you were set to go out into the world- too cool for school!


Sometimes I cringe when I think of what I did to some of my vintage wear. I remember buying to pairs of vintage pants- one a satin black damask paisley and the other a 60s aqua blue and lime green horoscope pattern. I cut them both up the inseam and outseam, took a side of each and sewed together two new pairs of the two-sided pant. I’d wear these with a tan fringe 60s jacket (a la Roger Daltrey) and a Mary Tyler Moore style wig. Weird- I know, but something must have inspired me- I think it was all the psychedelic images in the Beatles “Blue Jay Way” video. Speaking of which, I recently got “A Hard Day’s Write” – a book of the meanings behind all the Beatles songs- lots of “ooooh-aha” moments there that you wouldn’t expect. I digress. I had racks and racks of the coolest clothes all painstakingly collected. Where they all are now, who knows? My mother probably threw them away with the old Barbies and other things she got tired of hanging onto as I moved around in life, always promising to return and collect the last of the items in storage. Fantastic old furs, leathers, mini-skirts, velvet jackets, big collared shirts- the more outlandish the better- gone, all gone.

1991-I'm center front in the white vintage Marilyn dress-my golden birthday- age 21- my roving vintage birthday party. I had spent the day under the hot dryers at the salon for that hairdo!


Anyway, I must say that for a vintage seller my wardrobe is in a sad state these days. It’s not for lack of loving the vintage. I’ve been stuck in mom mode for awhile now and am battling my curves a bit. I constantly remind myself that the reason women looked so gosh darn fab in days of old was because they wore the proper foundation garments! I am no longer the 95 pound waif I was at 15, so the pickings that are flattering for my size are slim. My personal goal is to be able to wear a fantastic wiggle dress by the end of 2011, my saddlebags having been conquered and retired to the tannery. Also, I am in the land of baby food and spit-up that I do not wish to subject my nice clothing to, so I tend to do the day to day in yoga pants and cotton shirts. I don my cat eye glasses when working on my etsy shop so I can a) see the dagnabbit keyboard and b) have a shred of dignity in my personal style.


I am slowly getting my groove back and rebuilding my once fabulous personal collection. Still looking for the fun and funky pieces that exude the “I don’t give a rat’s ass what you think” style. For every 20 items I sell, I add one little beauty back into my own rack. Now THAT’S self-control!

2010- My fortieth birthday party with my youngest.

See you at the shop!