Dollar Tree has started putting Christmas items out

I was at our local Dollar Tree store yesterday and they already has some Christmas items out. The had a sign that said Pre-Christmas Sale. I wonder what type of sale it will be being everything is already a dollar lol. I didn't get a chance to look at anything as I had specifically gone there for one item and they were ready to close so I'll have to go back another time and see what goodies they have out.

Christmas is only 4 months from today

Well, only 4 more months and it will be Christmas. I can hardly wait. QVC had two Christmas episodes today. Hopefully the stores will start putting out Christmas items. The Dollar Tree usually puts a few Christmas items out along with the Halloween stuff but the other stores wait until after Halloween. Most of the stores had already put out "Back-to-School" stuff at the beginning of July.

Bronner's has already sent out their Christmas Catalog and LTD Commodities has listed their Christmas Catalog online, but I haven't received one in the mail yet.

Mitch Miller passes away

Mitch Miller passed away earlier this morning at the age of 99

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/03/arts/music/03miller.html?src=me

Just a reminder about posting links in comments

Dear folks,

Again, I must ask that you please don't use my blog for your advertising. There are plenty of other place to do so. Please don't include any links in your comments. If this continues, I will delete the comment and change the comments so that they must be approved first. If I wanted advertising on my blog, I would've set it up so that people would have to pay me to allow advertising but this isn't what this blog is about.

People come here that appreciate Christmas music and learn about a bygone era when the Christmas Music they grew up listening to was still played on the radio and it brings back fond memories for them. If they were looking for advertising, they wouldn't come here.

I have deleted the particular comment as it has nothing to do with Christmas Music.

Also, please do not click on any links in the comments unless it was a comment from me.

I thank you for your understanding.

Received another DMCA Complaint

Well folks, it looks like the DMCA people are at it again. I received another message from Google that they received a DMCA Complaint on my non-Christmas record blog.

So I don't know if my blogs will be deleted or not. I don't know why they are picking on me when they let other blogs post current CD releases.

I apologize if my blog is no longer here. I know a lot of people enjoyed it an found a lot of information about a bygone music era by visiting here.

A Favorite Christmas Movie of Mine that is avalialbe on DVD now

Back in 1984, I purchased a VHS Christmas Movie titled "Here Comes Santa Claus" The original title of this move is "J'ai rencontré le Père Noël" and I just purchased this movie on DVD under the title "I Believe In Santa Claus" I don't know why they changed the name of the movie and also changed the artwork. They even had to go in and digitally edit the opening credits to show the name of the movie as "I Believe In Santa Claus" This is the movie that has the Musical Walking Santaclaus from my previous post.

For more information on this movie, here is a link to Internet Movie Data Base http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0182221/

If anyone is interested in a good family Christmas movie, I would recommend this one. The only problems I have with the DVD are, it isn't in WS being the movie is from 1984 and the audio is somewhat out of sync with the lip movement and in my opinion, my VHS copy has better video quality. So if you can find this on VHS I would go for the VHS.

Musical Walking Santaclaus

I'm not sure how old this item is as while doing an online search, I came across a few different ones and the boxes were different too. This Santa's eyes are more Asian and he was made in China.

He works on 2 C batteries and walks and rings his bell and it also plays Jingle Bells, Santa Claus is Coming to Town and I Wish You A Merry Christmas.

In the movie "J'ai rencontré le Père Noël" (1984) aka "Here Comes Santa Claus" (1984) aka "I Believe In Santa Claus" (DVD Release, unsure of year) There was a scene where Karen Chéryl was singing in Santa's workshop and they had several of these Musical Walking Santa Claus'. I have this movie on VHS but I don't know if the Santa Claus is the same one that I have here.

There is a Bar Code sticker on the bottom of the box from A. E. Price Bellmawr, NJ so I would guess this is from the 1980's and from what I can find online about them, they are Importers.

Battery Operated Santa Riding Rudolph

Sorry that the picture isn't that clear. I have a cheap digital camera and it doesn't do well in low light and the flash whited the picture out so I had to cover the flash sensor.

I'm not sure of the year this was manufactured, but believe it was the late 1970's or early 1980's. I looked online for this too but alas haven't been able to find any information. It was manufactured in Taiwan.

When you turn it on, Rudolph's nose lights up and Jingle Bells, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Joy to the World play and Rudolph also walks. Our Yorkie/Maltese/Chihuahua mix is afraid of it lol.

Sterling 3 Light Candolier

I have three sets of these Sterling 3 Light Candolier's. I found them at a The Salvation Army Thrift store two years ago and they were .99 cents each. There is also an original price sticker on them from Neisners for $1.79.

I've tried to find more information on these but so far, anything I find doesn't show the year they were manufactured. The information on the box itself is. No. 1253 and E 9403 Assembly No. E.

If anyone might have more information as to the age of these I would appreciate your help. From looking at the design on the box, I would guess they are from the 1960's but they could be older or newer.

Happy LEON Day

Happy LEON Day everyone.

LEON is NOEL spelled backwards and marks the halfway point until Christmas.

It's hard to believe that in just 6 months it will be Christmas 2010

QVC.com has a Christmas in July preview on their website.
QVC Christmas In July Sale

Vintage Cardboard Santa Claus

I don't know how old this Santa Claus is, but I remember it being hung in our apartment at Christmas during the early 1960's. Though it is old and wrinkled and faded in spots, I believe it is the full image. There is plenty of tape on the back to hold it together.

Another Christmas Display from The Christmas Loft

I believe this is another Department 56 display, as I mentioned in my previous post, it's been at least 10 years since I've been there.

Christmas Loft Display

I believe that this display is part of the Department 56 series, but can't remember for sure. I haven't been in the store in about 10 years.

The Christmas Loft - Shelburne, VT

This is a picture of the storefront for The Christmas Loft located at 3155 Shelburne Road in Shelburne, VT I have some other pictures that I took from inside the store but can't find all of the right now but will post the few I have found. I believe they are open 7 days a week 365 days a year and it is very nice inside the store. They have a lot of Old New England Christmas displays. They also have a couple stores in New Hampshire.

Royalite Santa holding plastic tree

Here is a picture of Royalite (circa 1950's) Santa holding a plastic tree in his left hand. My grandparent had both Santa and a Snowman each holding a plastic tree. There are variations on these and some have bubble lights instead of a tree, or they have a bottle brush tree instead or they don't have anything in their hand.

Hood Milk Company Candy Filled Sleigh

This candy filled sleigh has been in my family since about 1966 or 1967. Our next door neighbor worked for Hood Milk and he gave us this sleigh for Christmas. I wish my camera took better quality pictures as this is a little blurry. There is about a second delay from when I press the button to when it actually takes the picture so if I move slightly, it blurs the image.

Vintage Christmas Decorations I have collected

Being I collect different Christmas decorations, I thought I'd post some pictures of Lights and Decorations I have collected.

These NOEL Candles I happened to find a couple years ago just driving around the neighborhood. Someone had put them out for the trash collector and I couldn't resist picking them up. They were very dirty when I found them, but a little Windex and they came clean. I had the cords checked with a multimeter and there weren't any shorts and I didn't even have to replace the bulbs. Items like this go for big bucks on eBay. The irony of finding these, is a year and a half later, I ended up moving to the same street I found these on. They are about 33 inches tall. These candles were manufactured by Union Products and I believe they were made around 1976 but they are packed away right now so I can't check the date that is stamped on them.

Vintage Christmas Lights

A few years ago I was searching for some replacement Christmas lights I came across these websites that show vintage Christmas lights and thought they might be of interest to you
Bill's Antique Christmas Lights
The Yule Lights Collection

Getting closer and closer to Christmas

Well, it's getting closer and closer to Christmas 2010 and even closer to Christmas in July. I wish the stores would decorate and put out Christmas decorations like they did years ago. I remember working for Zayers Department Store in the 1980's and they would decorate the seasonal section for Christmas in July and sell Christmas trees, decorations, etc. but now, I guess the only place for Christmas in July is QVC.

I think a few Cable Network TV stations will show some Christmas movies on July 25th too.

Just want to let everyone know I am still here

Hello everyone,

Just wanted to let everyone know that I am still here. I have been having some new health problems and just recently found that I have Emphysema.

Not sure how I got it as I really wasn't a smoker. I know there could be several causes, but I would guess that it is from second-hand smoke as up until a couple years ago, we used to go camping and our friends were heavy smokers and then we also had friends from out of state come to visit us from time to time and they were heavy smokers.

The strange part about this, is my two sisters and my brother are smokers and they are fine.

I wasn't having any problems breathing, but on a routine chest X-Ray, it showed Emphysema and about a year ago it wasn't there.

I hope to be doing something a little different with my blog in the near future.