Dear Abby - Merry Christmas (With Vintage Dachshund Photos)

Dear Friends,

I want to thank you all for reading my blog this year, and wish you a happy holiday season!  I am taking some time off from blogging until the New Year.  I will be back the second Friday in January (January 10) and look forward to catching up then.

I have big plans for the holidays including sleeping, snuggling, opening presents, eating treats, visiting with company, and sleeping and snuggling some more!

Here are a few vintage Christmas photos that feature dachshunds.  These were long ago and I don't know the people or the dogs, but the dachshunds all look so happy and loved!

A woman in a cheery red dress sits in front of an old fashioned Christmas tree with her dachshund.  That tinsel on the tree looks fascinating!

A man shares a Christmas stocking with his dog (on second glance, this may be a little Chiweenie pup).

A dachshund happily watches a very young Santa Claus in this black and white photo.

I hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  I look forward to chatting with you more in 2020.

Love,

Abby xoxoxo

Happy Holidays!

Hi all!

Abby and I are taking a blog break until after the New Year.   Wishing you and yours the happiest of holidays -- Merry Christmas to all!

Trish

Dear Abby -- Merry Christmas!

Dear friends,

Just a short and sweet note today to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a happy holiday season!   I am going to take a blogging break until after the New Year.  

Today I would like to share a few of my past Christmas photos (I'll post my 2018 photo when I return -- I want it to be a surprise for friends who are receiving it in Christmas cards this year).   Momma says it is an adventure to take Christmas pictures with me.  I am not sure what that means!

Here are a few Christmas links from my blog as well:

Vintage Christmas Dog Photos
Merry Christmas with Vintage Dog Illustrations
My Christmas Wish List
Vintage Christmas Dachshunds
Dachshund Christmas Videos
Video:  A Dachshund Decorates a Christmas Tree
Video:  Dachshund Santa and Reindeer

I hope you enjoy these links.  Wishing you and your loved ones a very Merry Christmas!  I look forward to chatting again in 2019.

Love,
Abby xoxoxo

Dear Abby - Videos Abby Likes: Dachshund Santa and Reindeer

Dear Friends,

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  I had a great day with lots of love and good food. 

I look forward to sharing some fun holiday posts the next few weeks.  I looked for dachshund videos for the holidays and found one that I love ... I hope you enjoy it too.  It is by famous dachshund Crusoe and his buddy Oakley.   Oakley wears reindeer ears ("wiendeer") and pulls Crusoe, who is dressed as Santa.  There is even a chimney ... and treats for Santa!  I am very impressed at Oakley's ability to act as a reindeer!

Here is the video:


I hope you enjoyed this short video as much as I did.   Have a wonderful weekend!

Love,

Abby xoxoxo

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Happy Holidays to all!

Abby and I are taking a blog break until after the New Year.  I'll look forward to catching up with you then!

Trish

Dear Abby - Vintage Christmas Dog Photos

Dear Friends,

I am planning to take some time off with my Momma for Christmas and New Year's, so I wanted to wish you a very happy holiday season.

I also thought you might enjoy a few vintage dog photographs.  

A dachshund sits with her mother in front of an old fashioned Christmas tree:

A child in a Santa suit plays with a handsome dachshund:

A little chihuahua peeks out from some packages under the tree (1971):

A cat and dog sit together on the sofa with some Christmas decorations:

A little terrier dog rests among the gifts on Christmas morning:

A dog enjoys Christmas with a little boy and his mother:

Thank you for visiting, and Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you and yours!

Love,
Abby xoxoxo

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays!

Abby and I are planning to take a blog break until the New Year.  We'll be back with book reviews and giveaways, retro posts and nostalgia, and - of course - Dear Abby on Fridays!

Thank you so much for reading and interacting here.  Wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas and a wonderful holiday season!

Merry Christmas - and a Holiday Blog Break!

Dear friends,

I will be taking a break until January 4th, but look forward to catching up with you then.

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas and happy holiday season!

Love and happiness,

Trish (and Abby, too!)

Dear Abby: My Christmas Wish List

Dear Friends,

I hope you are having a wonderful holiday season!  We will be busy with the holidays the next couple of Fridays, so I wanted to pop in and share my Christmas list with you.

I wish for more afternoon naps, ideally with Momma joining me.  Afternoon naps are just about as good as treats.

I wish for neighborhood fireworks to become suddenly illegal and never be used in the area near my home again.  Ever.

Ditto thunder. No more thunder.

I wish for peanut butter spread in Kongs.

I wish for lots of sunny days and very few rainy days.

I wish for the joy of burrowing in warm blankets.

I wish for everyone who wants to add a puppy or dog to their family to adopt instead of shopping.  There are so many wonderful dogs in shelters and foster homes and animal rescues ... and they are looking for forever homes.

I also wish that people adopting dogs would remember that dogs who are seniors and dogs with special needs also need loving homes ... and they have a lot of love to give.

Oh!  And mixed breed dogs like me.  A dog does not need to be a purebred to be pure of heart.  I wish for them all to find great forever homes.

Other than that I wish for yummy treats, soft toys to cuddle, and extra long walks in the New Year.

And I wish the happiest of holidays to you and yours!

With lots of love,

Abby xoxoxo

Throwback Thursday - Christmas Cardboard Fireplace

Do you remember cardboard fireplaces?  These were popular in the 1960's and 1970's.   The picture above is from the 1969 Sears catalog.  They were made out of corrugated cardboard, with andirons and a fake fire.  We never had one, and I'm not sure I ever saw one at anyone's house, but I certainly remember them from catalogs and magazine photos during my childhood.

You'll see another couple of vintage cardboard fireplaces below:

 This one even has retro decorations and gifts:

I was surprised to find these are still made (they are on Amazon).   I love holiday decorations this vintage, and am going to think about putting one of these up - with a retro theme tree - next year.

Let me know if you remember cardboard fireplaces.  Do you have any retro decorations or ornaments up at your house?  I'd love to hear from you in the comments, below.

Dear Abby - Dachshund Christmas Videos

Dear Friends,

I'm in the mood for some holiday fun, so went looking for some Christmas videos to share with you.  Naturally, I like dog videos the most.   I found a few that I think you will enjoy.

The first video stars Crusoe the Dachshund (he is a celebrity in the dog world!).  It's short and sweet, and he plays "The Little Drummer Boy."



You can also see Crusoe opening a Christmas present in this video. He sure gets excited about that gift!   Go, Crusoe, go!



In this video, Riley the dachshund opens his Christmas stocking. He is a handsome boy with a frosted face, and reminds me a little bit of my late brother Barney Fife. This little mini-movie even has pretty music.



Momma says this is her favorite of all. Mazie is a 14 year old dachshund who has limited vision. She finds all her gifts by smell (among all the other gifts under the tree!) and then opens them one by one. Wait for the end of the video. It is really sweet!



I hope you enjoy these videos, and hope they put you in a holiday mood! I'd love to hear from you in the comments, below.

Love and happiness,

Abby xoxoxo 

 

Did You Know Tuesday: Claxton Fruit Cake

Fruit cake - love it or hate it?  It's one of those things that people don't seem to have neutral opinions about.  

Count me firmly in the "love it" camp.  Growing up in Georgia, fruit cake always meant Claxton fruit cake, with the familiar red and white packaging.  I still have to buy a fruit cake every year.  It wouldn't seem like Christmas without it!  (Pictured above, on a vintage postcard.)

The Claxton Bakery first opened in Claxton, Georgia in 1910.  It was owned by Italian immigrant Savino Tos who had experience as a master baker in Italy and New York.   In 1927 a young boy named Albert Parker started working at the bakery.  Eventually, when Savino Tos retired, Albert Parker purchased the business.  It is still run by Albert Parker's sons and daughter.

It was Albert Parker who started the focus on fruit cake.  In the 1950's, the fruit cakes were marketed as civic group fundraisers.  

The Claxton Fruit Cake company had a booth at the New York World's Fair of 1964 - 1965, which helped build the brand popularity.   They have also had brand floats at the Orange Bowl Jamboree Parade in Miami, Florida, and the Cherry Blossom Festival Parade in Washington, D.C.

The company is still active and busy, and can be found at their website.  Claxton, Georgia claims to be the fruit cake capitol of the world, with over four million fruit cakes sold each year.  

Are you a fruit cake fan?  Do you make your own or have a special brand?  I'd love to hear from you in the comments, below.

Weekend Window Shopping at Birdhouse Books

Happy weekend, vintage friends! I have a few fun items to show you -- all new arrivals at Birdhouse Books. You can find these goodies: 

Birdhouse Books on Etsy

Birdhouse Books on eBay

This is a lovely Art Deco vintage Christmas postcard.  It is from 1930 and depicts the Wise Men and the Star of Bethlehem.

This charming 1923 vintage Christmas postcard features Santa Claus climbing into a chimney.  "May Santa Claus find you with the scene for joy set and the things you desire be the things you get."

This lovely 1911 vintage Christmas postcard features a rustic cabin behind a fence, with a pine bough.

How God Gives Us Peanut Butter is a cute 1960's vintage children's book by Mary LeBar.  There are illustrations of a sweet little Beagle dog through the book.

Illustration from How God Gives Us Peanut Butter (1964).  I love the cute Beagle!

How God Gives Us Warm Coats is a 1960's vintage children's book by Mary LeBar.  I love the sweet cover illustration of children petting a lamb.

I hope you've enjoyed this peek into the windows at Birdhouse Books ... and wish you a wonderful weekend!

Weekend Window Shopping at Birdhouse Books

Hi vintage friends!  

This is another new feature at my blog.  I will be posting on Saturdays to give you a peek at what is new at Birdhouse Books.  You can find all the items pictured here in my shops at Etsy and eBay:

Birdhouse Books at Etsy
Birdhouse Books at eBay

On to walk through the shelves and see what's new!

Jack and Janet is a 1963 school reader from the Reading for Meaning series:

Up and Away is also a 1963 school reader from the Reading for Meaning series.  It is meant to be read along with Jack and Janet.

I Read About God's Love is a 1962 vintage Basic Bible reader, Grade One:

This lovely embossed Christmas postcard is from 1911, made by A.S. Meneker.

This pretty, colorful Christmas postard is Arts and Crafts style, and it is Whitney Made.  (It's also one of my favorites this week!)

Who doesn't love an anthropomorphic Valentine?  This baseball theme card says: "Sock it to me, Valentine - be mine."

 This cute, unused vintage Valentine has a Humpty Dumpty theme:  "You make me FALL for you."

The cute Cocker Spaniel on this Valentine says:  "You're TOPS with a capital T - just the Valentine for me!"

A cute little boy in a sombrero peeks out of a multi-color basket on this Valentine card: "No use to hide."

Heidi by Johanna Spyri is a 1952 vintage children's book by Winston Pixie Books.  Hard to find in this hardcover edition!

The Phantom Tollbooth is a vintage children's book by Norman Juster.  This was made into a 1970 movie starring Butch Patrick a/k/a Eddie Munster from The Munsters.

Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There is an undated vintage book by Lewis Carroll.  It's a Junior Deluxe Edition, and quite a charming edition.

I've enjoyed window shopping with you, and hope you enjoyed seeing the vintage goodies, too!

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas!  Looking forward to chatting life, books, all things vintage, and Downton Abbey here in the New Year!

Book Review: Wishin' and Hopin' by Wally Lamb

Wishin' and Hopin': A Christmas Story by Wally Lamb is a nostalgic short novel set in 1964 Connecticut.  The book tells the story of Felix Funicello (distant cousin of Annette) and his adventures in fifth grade from early in the school year through the Christmas pageant.

Felix has a loving family who own a lunch counter by the town bus depot.  He is a bright child (with a quick wit) and he bears a resemblance to comic strip character Dondi.  I was not familiar with Dondi, so I looked up the character and found this picture:

Felix wants to best the other academic star in the class, an unctious little girl named Rosalie Twerski.  He wants to spend time with friends, including Lonny Flood and new girl Zhenya Kabakova.  He wants to get along with the nuns who are his teachers, including the moody Sister M. Dymphna and her replacement, Madame Marguerite Frechette.  He wants to survive the Christmas pageant, with all the drama it brings to his fifth grade classroom.

This is a short novel, told with great humor and vivid characterizations.  I loved the nostalgic description of a 1964 childhood.  This book reminded me a bit of the movie A Christmas Story, and even more so, the writing of Jean Shepherd (whose stories inspired that movie).  I would recommend it highly for a holiday read.