A Vintage Mechanical Santa

Today I wrapped the Christmas presents for my granddaughter Tiffany and her family and took them to the post office where they will be delivered to them in California.

The Christmases Past Shutterfly album that was supposed to be a gift never happened due to a technical issue with Shutterfly, but Tiffany will get it eventually.  Instead, she and her husband got a gift card to Outback Steak House.  Evie got LEGO Gingerbread ornaments and a DVD of the The Best Christmas Pageant Ever from the 1983 TV movie.  And Juliette got her first watch - a Disney time teacher featuring Elsa from the movie Frozen.

When my daughter was recently in California for Thanksgiving, Tiffany reminisced about the vintage mechanical Santa I used to put under the Christmas tree when she and her siblings were younger.  She asked her mom if she thought I would give her the Santa.  The Santa is over 60 years old because my mom used to put him under her Christmas tree before passing him on to me. When he's wound up he rings the bell in his hand.  He's still in his original box and looks pretty good for his age.

Here's a picture of grandson, Brandon, [Tiffany's older brother] holding the Santa in 2002. All the kids loved him.

When my daughter told me about Tiffany's wish to have the Santa, I said, of course.  He's been tucked away in a tote of old ornaments and decorations and hasn't been under my Christmas tree for a few years now.  I figured it was time to pass him on to a new generation, and retrieved him from the tote in the basement and packed him in the box with their gifts today. It will be a nice surprise when she opens the postal box.

Here's to many more years of Santa ringing his bell in his new home!

Do you have vintage Christmas toys or decorations that have been in your family for many years?   My hubby gave his childhood train set to our youngest son who now displays it under his Christmas tree.

The train was a Christmas present to my hubby and his younger brother when they were kids.  They made an agreement that the first one to have a son would get the train, so my hubby got it.  We displayed it under our Christmas tree for several years and my hubby told our two boys the first one to have a son would get it.  So the train went to Jeremy and it's still in good working condition after all these years.

[Jerry and Jeremy]