Vintage Christmas Photos Part VII: The Many Faces of Santa Claus

Santa Claus wasn't always portrayed as the jolly chap we see so often these days. Coca-Cola had a lot to do with his attitude adjustment back in the 1920s, as they modified his image in a print advertising campaign to promote their soda.

Often, prior to that, Santa was a lot scruffier and not nearly so cheerful, almost scaring children into being good - or else!

In the top photograph, circa 1903, Santa pauses on his way down a chimney and in the second, busy fellow that he is, he's traveling aboard the ship "New York", circa 1910.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Vintage Christmas Photos Part VI: Books on Wheels

In 1949, the city of Los Angeles outfitted 4 large vans with 4,000 books each and sent them into housing developments, shopping centers, parks and schools in low income areas. Each van made twenty-eight 1-3 hour stops a week and between the 4 vans, 250,000 books were checked out per year.

These photographs were taken in 1955 by Joe Friezer, showing the vans fully decorated for Christmas.

Vintage Christmas Photos Part V: Then & Now

In the circa 1940 photograph above, the corner of Grand Avenue and Seventh Street in downtown Los Angeles was a vibrant thoroughfare with numerous pedestrians, automobiles, streetcars and thriving businesses, festooned with Christmas decorations.

Below, the same intersection today, courtesy of Google Earth, looks terribly boring.

An Advent Calendar Feature

We're very happy to have discovered that our advents are featured on a Spanish blog called Kireii.com!

Holiday Project Supplies

Crafting season is in full swing! If you're looking for supplies for creating everything from a gift to the paper to wrap it in, look no further than the Etsy Supply Street Team.

Vintage Christmas Photos Part IV: When He's Not Driving the Sleigh

In Independence, Iowa in 1913, no Santa Claus car outdid this rig, decorated with moose and deer heads, a tree and tinsel festooning.

New Putz House Styles

Snowy Putz Lighthouse

Here's a peek at two putz houses just added to our website.

We make our putz houses entirely by hand from scratch in our California studio. From design to construction to finishing, we spend hours meticulously detailing each piece with carefully chosen elements -- like vintage mercury glass beads, Dresden trim and natural mica -- to capture the charm and elegance of traditional vintage putz houses and the Christmas season.

With cellophane in the windows and a hole in back to accommodate a light, you'll be amazed at how our little houses can whisk you off to your own Christmas dreamland. We include a battery powered flickering tea light for illuminating your house safely.

Snowy Putz Schoolhouse.

Vintage Christmas Photos Part III: Christmas For All

The District Jail in Washington, D.C. didn't scrimp when it came to decorating for the holidays. This circa 1909-1932 photograph shows the inmates gathered around their Christmas tree.

Happy Halloween!

Thomas gets festive.

Victorian Homes December 2009 Issue

We're very happy to share that three of our ornaments plus one keepsake set have been featured on a page of Victorian Homes Christmas issue. You can click here to see the featured pieces on our website, or click the photo below for a closer look. The keepsake set has already sold out, but you can see what's available by clicking here.

Vintage Christmas Photos Part II: Santa Hits a Home Run

Above, these neighborhood girls in 1922 San Francisco all made sure Santa knew they wanted dolls, and he obviously didn't disappoint.


In 1949, this brother and sister posed happily in front of their Christmas tree in their cowboy and cowgirl outfits.


And in 1927, this young man set up a makeshift baseball diamond in the backyard of the San Francisco's Aki Hotel, to break in his new catcher's glove.

Autumn Moon

Crystal clear weather led us down to the beach this evening to shoot a few surfing pictures. Little did we know, this one of the moon would turn out to be the real gem. Click to enlarge and you'll see pits and craters, shadows and texture galore. It seems so close!

Lighthouses off the Coast of France

The above video can only make one wonder if the lighthouse keeper was at home during the storm. I'm not sure if the photo below is a still from this video, but it makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up nonetheless.

Jument Lighthouse in France.

A bit of digging on the history of these French lighthouses revealed this:

Some lighthouses were built under incredible conditions on rocks that were submerged at high tide, and in locations affected by strong currents and fierce storms. The lighthouse at Armen, the most legendary of all, is built on a rock which emerges to a height of just 1.50 metres at low tide, right in the middle of the Raz de Sein. When time allowed, the construction workers drilled a hole for the future anchoring bars. The first year they drilled only 15 holes and only 34 the next year. Throughout the whole of the year 1870, they could only work for 8 hours and for 6 hours in 1873. The construction of Armen was to take 14 years. Construction of the lighthouse known as the Jument, near Ouessant, was to take 7 years.
(Read more here.)

Armen lighthouse.

It seems that as time marches on, the upkeep of these lighthouses has fallen by the wayside. GPS and modern technology have made the lighthouse keeper all but obsolete and the maintenance of offshore locales is challenging and costly. Some have become tourist attractions, but those at sea are too dangerous to approach. There's a fascinating article here that goes into more detail about the state, and fate, of these French lighthouses.

Favorite Garden Visitors

Hummingbirds are frequent visitors to our most vibrant flowers and some of our favorite garden guests. These shots were taken around San Diego County by local photographer Chris Mayne.


This little guy above is an extremely rare leucistic hummingbird -- almost albino, but not quite due to his dark eyes and beak.


All in a day's work, this Anna's Hummingbird takes a break on a dewy leaf. And, yes, he's sticking out his tongue.