Christmas past…
Spectacular seasons greetings to each and every one of you who have stumbled across this festive blog post and through the door of The Cambridge Flea-a circus for the sentimental, brimming with bygone booty! (the pirate type, not bums!)
Christmas is a big time for all vintage traders and we are no exception-we’ve been adding Christmas stock to our new online shop for its festive launch since May! How strange it felt listing the wares of winter in the heat of the day but it got me thinking about Christmases past, Christmases future, and, I admit, my Christmas Present!
The best Christmases, I find, have a theme-I do love a thread to hold it all together whilst we all fall apart, having over-indulged in all manner of things that should only be ingested in moderation! Luckily I come from a family that embraces a theme and runs with it to ridiculous extents, such that the best part is usually in the planning, brainstorming, and making! Here are the top themes from my actual real 3D life-each one a success and disaster in equal measure, which, surely, is what it’s all about, no? Plus, I’ll add in a few suggestions of purchases that might add to your day!
Bad Taste Christmas 2012
I wore a genuine 80’s peach ski pants and jacket combo that involved brocade, pleats, a useless zip on an elasticated waist, and boxy power shoulders. My Mum rocked up in fishnet tights and open-toed sandals and my sister was challenged to fit the word ‘gusset’ into as many conversations as possible-she excelled! We dined on Christmas cake topped with a chocolate yule log turd, Babycham and Blue Nun. We swapped bad taste presents. Both kids were running massive temperatures and so slept most of the day (this was sort of a win for me). Such an easy theme! Check out a bad taste stock suggestion!
Tropical Christmas 2022
This one was my sons idea and, to be honest, it took me a while to get on board! We spent far too many hours making a paper chain curtain for the living room door which kept falling down. The coconut ‘Deal or No Deal’ game was carnage because we’d all consumed too much rum punch by about 11 am but by Christ, we were saved by the Talent Show-crying with laughter at my 20-year-old nephew singing ‘Tip-toe through the tulips’ in a comedy voice will be forever etched in my favourite memory bank. We ate pineapple ham, pineapple upside-down cake, and, courtesy of my Mother, a tropical trifle, with pineapple in it!
(bit short on pineapples!)
Christmas Away 2018 & 2021
These are definitely up there with the best of them! These years saw a strong desire to opt out of all the Christmas rigmarole, questions about who is hosting, who is bringing what etc. We broke out, broke the bank, and bought ourselves two nights in an Airbnb in the middle of nowhere with a hot tub.-twice! We ate what we wanted to eat (we each designed and cooked our own dream meal), watched big fat films on a big fat sofa and we looked at the stars from the warmth of the hot tub-one time with the company of llamas! Each time it was exactly what was needed (apart from the one where the presents that Mother had insisted on sending with us exploded-we hadn’t realised there was under floor heating and that the presents contained fizz!) Not a shred of tinsel in sight and I loved it!
Need to get hot tub ready? Stock suggestion!
There have been plenty of tricky Christmases in between but I’d prefer not to recall those for a blog entry! Anyway, thanks for indulging my wander down Christmases past. Whatever you choose to do this year, or whatever you get dealt, I wish you some memories that you enjoy remembering in years to come!
Happy Festivities!
