It's Christmas in July at Birdhouse Books

I love Christmas!  It's my favorite holiday, and always has been.  As a vintage store owner, I am always so happy when I find vintage Christmas items to share.  I know the happiness they evoke and the nostalgic memories they bring.

I'm having a big Christmas in July sale at my store, Birdhouse Books, through midnight on July 28th.  Everything Christmas related is 15% off.   You'll find my Christmas department here:  vintage Christmas at Birdhouse Books.

Here are a few of the goodies I have waiting under the aluminum Christmas tree -- right over there, by the color wheel and the felt elves:

Baby boomer vintage children's book, Feel Santa Claus's Beard:

The Christmas Story, a 1971 Little Golden Book illustrated by Eloise Wilkin:

An unusual Christmas postcard featuring a display of Mid-Century Christmas cards:

Christmas at Home, a 1963 music book for children:  

1920's Christmas card with a flapper and dapper man celebrating the holidays:

1943 Christmas card featuring an angel carrying a candle (Rynart card):

Cute Carrington Christmas card (Mid-Century) with a little boy skiing:

You'll find lots more at my eBay Christmas page - hope you'll stop by!

Merry July Christmas

Counting the days till Christmas in July...

Have you started to shop?  It's the perfect time to pick up gifts, and holiday decor.

Just think how much fun it is to swim, relax and browse the web for early gifts. 

In December you with have fond memories of sunny days, sales without crowds. 

No stress shopping!

I know many OBS ebay sellers have their stores packed with holiday goodies.

Many stores have special sales going on for this fun Summer Christmas Holiday.

Feel free to leave a link in the comment box if your store is running a sale for Christmas in July.

Don't forget to tweet, and post on Facebook our blog so everyone in the world can find you.

mymomsbooks.com will be running a 5 day countdown sale July 20-25th with 25% off and free shipping

Oh Christmas Tree - A Memory

Is it Christmas in July? Or does it last all year?

About 15 years ago I had to move (house I was renting was sold). I had a St Bernard dog. Finding a place to take my dog was not fun. Bill and Lisa let me move in and gave me the back apt so the dog could have run of the backyard.

 

Then in 99 I started selling on eBay (now using the name Samican2). At the time they also had a mom and pop movie store. He came home one day with a Tom Cruise movie and asked how much it would sell for on eBay. And so Video-Town (also the name of their store) came to be.

 

Later he found out I had a friend who worked for Playboy in their marketing dept. At the time PB had a warehouse about 4 miles from here. PB needed a liquidator ... Bill had the $$.

 

But things are strange. I found out afterwards that Bill and my oldest son went to school together. Bill is 1 year older than my son. Bill's best friend in HS, Bryan, (who is an owner of  Hausermann's Orchids) and my son use to break dance in HS. His friend came over to see Bill one day and stopped in to say hi to me. My son was sitting on the sofa and Bryan asked him WHAT he was doing here. John replied "It's MY mom ... What are YOU doing here" We all had a good laugh on that one

 

And Lisa ... well her Aunt and my mom went to grade school together. (Can you imagine 1938?)

 

Lisa and I both grew up in the south suburbs of Chicago .... about 2 miles away from each other (and 2 decades apart).

 

I went to Argo HS. Our rival was Reavis .... Lisa went to Reavis. My grandfather helped to start Reavis HS.

 

You never know where life will take you or the turns in getting there. But somehow the Man up above guides us in directions we never expect and ... hopefully ... it all works out. It sure did here.

Christmas in July??? Yes, but here it's all year long!

 

 

Decorating A Vintage Christmas Tree

I love Christmas it's my favorite time of year so celebrating Christmas in July with my friends makes me very happy. I do have a special place in my heart for vintage Christmas items and often wish they could talk. For instance I have some Tree Toppers for sale and wondered how many Christmas mornings they saw perched on the top of a Vintage Tree.

The same thing can be said for those big Vintage light bulbs that adorned our trees many years ago. I loved those bulbs and still use them on one of my trees that I decorate. Yes I said trees since at my house I decorate one real tree and 2 artificial ones each year. I have always loved those big bulbs especially as I got older when one blows out the rest still work and take only a minute to replace. We all know what it's like to try to find a blown bulb on the tiny lights of today. LOL I have learned it is better to toss out the string and buy a new one then spend hours trying to replace a burnt out bulb.

A vintage Christmas tree wouldn't be complete without those glass balls that were hung each year with so much care. I have boxes and boxes of them and one of these days I really have to part with some. I can remember my mom as she would take each one out of the box and hand it to us kids to carefully hang it on the tree. The really special ones she would hang up and now after all those years those special ones hang on my tree.

I am sure each and everyone one of you have a special memories of decorating that Vintage Christmas tree growing up and how special Christmas was to your family.

Christmas In July for a Christmas Baby

Christmas in July hits closer to home for me than normal.  My birthday is on Christmas day and my entire life it has been overlooked or forgotten.  As an adult, it never really bothered me but as a child, it did.

When I worked for the City of Rocky Mount, my captain and our department within the police department, always went out to eat lunch to celebrate everyone’s birthdays. We exchanged small gifts and somebody always baked a cake.  After the first few years of our not even being at work on my birthday, another employee suggested that I celebrate my birthday on July 25 so that I would not be left out.  Even though it didn’t bother me that my birthday was overlooked,  I thought it was sweet of her to think of it and the plan was put into place.  From that year forward we celebrated my birthday on July 25 with a nice dinner out with our small but intimate group.  It was really fun to receive little gifts from everybody—something that I honestly wasn’t accustomed to—again, my mom was about the only person who remembered my birthday each year.  It was a nice and meaningful tradition that I carried into other areas of my life.  Other than on legal documents, when asked when my birthday was I always responded ‘July 25’.  It turned into a rather nice habit.

I am at the age now that I find myself begging my family and friends to forget my birthday—whether they think it’s July 25 or December 25.  My number is getting way too high....I am not aging gracefully—I’m kicking and screaming all the way. 

Those special years of dining out, receiving small gifts, a homemade cake, and celebrating my birthday on July 25 with my coworkers will always be terrific memories.  So Christmas in July has a very special meaning for me and the phrase always brings back very loving memories of my dear friends who didn’t want my birthday to be overlooked.   

(from the editor - you can See all Pat's eBay listings in her ebay store NICALUCKS )

Something For All The Women in Your Life

"We give gifts because we wish to show appreciation for another person. It is a pity if it becomes a meaningless ritual. It is possible to ignore the commercial hype surrounding gift-giving and retain the simple joy of giving for the sake of it, whether or not you receive back or if your gift is of great monetary value. For Christians, it can be a reflection of the gift given by God to man, which is at the heart of the celebration as we know it“.I for one never buy a gift just to buy it. I try very hard to buy something I know the person will enjoy and the one thing you can buy for the Women in your life is Jewelry.
What does every woman want for Christmas ??? Diamonds , Gold !!!! Most of us can not afford that, but there are all types of beautiful Jewelry for everyone’s budget  - and that is vintage or new costume jewelry. Jewelry is a great stocking Stuffer.

 Go to
WWW.bitzofglitz.com and you will find jewelry that fits any pocket book. Sterling silver,Lucite, Cameo’s, Pins, bracelets and more. We have turtles, bugs, horse’s and even a cow belt buckle. My wish for you this year is health, wealth and happines and a stocking full of Bitz of Glitz
thanks
Delores, Jewelry Ring, , Costume Jewelry Collectors International

Visit Bitz of Glitz for more selections Or GlitzyGramy on eBay
Join me at my other eBay id GRAMY
And on Pinterest at http://pinterest.com/bitzofgitz4u/


Onlinebusinesssuccess@yahoogroups.com

Saint Nicholas becomes Santa Claus! Christmas in July

Every November, I become fascinated with all the rituals and history of the Christmas Season, such as Santa Claus.  As a child, I accepted that Santa was a big man with white hair and beard.  He lived at the North Pole (whatever that was) and didn't seem to exist for the rest of the year.
Here, in the middle of July, the fourth day of an on-again off-again thunderstorm, I found a wonderful old world St. Nicholas doll wearing clothing more like that of an Old World Greek Bishop than the jolly rolly-polly pink cheeked man in a red velvet suit with a thick black belt.  Often people say that one evolved from the other.  I finally decided to track it down and see where it happened.  Not too complicated, but surprising to me.  Here's a brief note of what I found out.
Saint Nicholas was an historic 4th-century Saint and Greek Bishop of Myra, part of modern-day Turkey.  He had a reputation for secret gift-giving, such as putting coins in the shoes of those who left them out for him, and thus became the model for today's Santa Claus.  His feast day is the 6th of December.
The dramatic clothing change came in 1892 as a result of magazine illustrations created by the great artist, Thomas Nast as illustrations for Harper's Weekly Magazine.   Nast's original drawings were of a small Santa who could slide down chimneys, but his later works made him full size. He was also the first to draw Santa wearing a red suit with fur lining, a stocking cap, and a black belt with a large buckle. This has become the image of the American Santa, while in some European countries where Saint Nicholas remains popular, the outfit worn is closer to religious clothing, including a Bishop's mitre.
This brings us back my vintage St. Nicolas doll in religious clothing.  If you'd like to see more about it, visit my store on eBay, PhoenixRising2000.

Our Logo for our Christmas in July Promotion

Our Promotion certainly needs a logo for Christmas in July and here is it. Marion does wonderful things with graphics and always shares them with our group.

Actually she has made one for a promotion a few years ago and Beth was the one to remember that and asked her to make one for this promotion.

Marion has a way with graphics and so I just had to share this with you so as you see this during the month you will know it is our promotion.

We all use social media my favorite is Twitter but others use Facebook, Pinterest etc so you may see this logo pop up just about anywhere this month.

Just like it says the group will be running sales on both Christmas and gift items so keep an eye out for great deals this month and help us have a great Christmas in July Celebration.

Christmas In July on ebay is a Happening Time !

Every year from July 1st to July 31st there are lots of ebay sellers running Specials on Christmas Items of all types
 I am one of those sellers. KDMORE-CRAFTS-AND-MORE 
  here on ebay you will find a large array of items to decorate your house for the Holidays and many Christmas Gift ideas for those on your Gift List

I`m not really sure who came up with the idea of Christmas In July originally, but I have always thought it was a neat idea


Here are a few of the items I have in my store right now. If you are a Disney fan you might like these Disney Christmas Plush Characters.



I have always loved having Scented Candles lit during the Winter Months when the house is all warm and toasty these Yankee Candle Items with Santa would make a Great Holiday Decoration addition

Yankee Candle Santa Candle Topper & Votive Set

And of course having Christmas Music to play during the Season is a MUST in my house


Christmas Music CD set


And if you are the Creative type or know someone who is you can make your own Family Heirloom Creation

Bucilla Christmas Stocking Cross Stitch Kit

No matter what you like, or need, I`m sure Christmas In July on ebay is going to be a Fun Place to be !  Please Come Join Us

Christmas in July

We often see the saying Christmas in July and I wondered what it means to you. For many that sell items or own a retail store it's a way to promote a month for sales of a very popular selling time. We all know that everyone buys gifts for Christmas and July is often a slower selling time for retailers.

According to Wikipedia there are a few different ways this started. One is that winter falls in July in the southern hemisphere. Therefore in countries such as Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in order to have Christmas with a winter feel Christmas in July events are undertaken. However, Christmas in December, the usual month, is a far more common practice, despite it being summer.  

We decided to get together this month and have a big celebration of Christmas in July and also quite a few sales on our items. We all love Christmas items and many of us sell them and are always looking for unique Christmas gifts for the people we love. What better Month to look for sales and get a jump on our Christmas Shopping then July? 

So follow our blog this month as we share our items and sales for the month of July.