Holiday Hours at Vintages

Vintages will be open DAILY during the remainder of the Christmas Holiday season.  Here is our Holiday schedule:

Through Christmas Eve we are open DAILY:

• Monday through Saturday 10am to 6pm (or later if needed) and Sundays 11am to 5pm (or later if needed).
• Christmas Eve 10am until late afternoon (4pm or 5pm or so).
• Closed on Christmas Day.
• We will resume normal hours after Christmas.

Have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday.

Los Gatos Children's Holiday & Christmas Parade

What a great weekend in Los Gatos!  Friday night the tall 70 year old cypress tree in the Town Plaza was lit up, as it has been for decades, kicking off the official Holiday season in Los Gatos.  Santa Claus dropped by as well to greet children of all ages!

Saturday morning was chilly and clear.  Fine weather for the 53rd Annual Los Gatos Children's Holiday & Christmas Parade.  We love Los Gatos because of events like this.  This annual community gathering has come a long way from that Friday night in 1956 when a small group of fathers marched up Santa Cruz Avenue with their sons.  Little did they know the tradition they would start.  Here's a gallery of snapshots from in front of Vintages.  As you can see, we had a front row view of the parade!

The parade watchers start arriving early on Saturday morning.  The spaces in front of Vintages were all "reserved" by 9 am, a full two hours before the start of the parade.  Here's what the scene looked like an hour later!

The parade starts every year with the presentation of the Fire Department color guard carrying the flags.

Next, the Los Gatos High School Marching Band, Cheerleaders and Flag Corps get the parade of to a roaring start!  (FYI: Congratulations to the LGHS football team who won the NorCal Division II championship on Saturday night.  Not to be outdone, the LGHS Field Hockey team won their division of the CCS earlier in the month!)

More marching bands provided musical accompaniment to the parade throughout the morning.  Bands from high schools & middle schools, the Fire & Police Department Bagpipers and the raucous Stanford University band all made their annual appearance.

Here, here, here ... three cheers for our Troops.  

Scout troops, dance schools, tumblers and dog walkers, all parts of the extended community join in the parade.

 

Classic cars, antique autos, old-time fire engines and Billy Jones' Wildcat Railroad.

  

The most hilarious award annually goes to the Italian Gardeners Association's Cucuzza Squash Drill Team.  This "precision marching drill team" is a loosely organized squad of men dressed in their "uniform" of white pasta-stained undershirts guarding the Cucuzza Queen riding in a classic Cadillac convertible.

  

Horses, history and cowpokes make their appearance as well.  

The last band in the parade precedes Santa Claus officially ending the festivities.  Now we can all go shopping!

 

For more photos of the parade, check out this slide show.  Merry Christmas!

How Sweet is This?

One our very nice customers, Patricia, brought us this cute little miniature cyclamen yesterday, Just Because!  Thanks, Patricia.

 

Christmas Cards and Images

We save out of print and out of copyright images for use in craft projects, as many of you do.  Here I have put together a little gallery of some of my favorite Christmas images, plus a few interesting Christmas cards.

The anticipation of Christmas morning is always so exciting ... no matter what age you are.  "Stockings hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there ..."

These next two are one-of-a-kind Christmas cards from a couple of famous artist-illustrators.  The first is from Howard Brodie, American Illustrator Hall of Fame member, famous for his sketches of soldiers in three wars (WW2, Korea & Vietnam) as well as courtroom sketches of some very high profile cases.  The second is from Jean Charlot, a protege of Diego Rivera who studied in France and Mexico before settling in Hawaii.  He has won the Caldecott award for his children's book illustrations.

Have a Happy Holiday Season.

And being from the Hawaiian Islands, where we celebrated a "green Christmas" every year, here is a Hawaiian greeting.  As the song goes:   

Melekalikimaka is the thing to say, 

on a bright Hawaiian Christmas day ...

 Melekalikimaka is Hawaii's way, 

to say Merry Christmas to you.

Hobe Asian Man Brooch

This is a fantastic Hobe brooch from 1944.  The figure is carved Tibetan ivory and the silver setting is encrusted with brilliant, colorful crystals.  The Hobe Cie jewelery company was founded in Paris in 1887.  Jacques Hobe's son, William Hobe, started working in the theatrical costume business in the 1920s in New York and drew the attention of Florence Ziegfield.  In the mid-1920s William Hobe began creating costumes and jewelry for the Ziegfield Follies on Broadway.  The business grew from there into the upscale retail department stores in the '30s.  In the 1960s William's sons Robert and Donald took over the business, which is run today by his grandson James.

 In its long history, Hobe always was focused on unique designs and high quality.  They maintained their upscale image, keeping prices and distribution on the  high-end.  This superb brooch was designed by William Hobe in 1944, according to the design patent that was issued in September 1944.  The accompanying ad refers to this piece as a Jeweled Tibetan Chessman, made from antique ivory.  It's a pretty spectacular piece from a firm that was dedicated to the exotic and unique in jewelry design.

Hobe jewelry exhibits a certain diversity and flair seldomly matched in the jewelry of today.  Almost all of the Hobe jewelry prior to 1970 were designed by members of the Hobe family.  Below is a little gallery of some of our favorite pieces.

This parure below is from an article on Hobe Jewelry on the website Morning Glory Antiques and Jewelry.  There is quite a bit of information on Hobe Jewels in this article and the accompanying gallery and patent images.

Happy Thanksgiving

We wish you all a truly Happy Thanksgiving.  Though times have been tough, the economy appears to be turning positive.  What's more important is we have so much else to be thankful for -- friends, family and health.  HAPPY THANKSGIVING.

As we sit down for the traditional Thanksgiving turkey dinner, here's a Thanksgiving Day thought:

Benjamin Franklin preferred the Turkey as the national bird of the United States, a thought he expressed in a letter he wrote to his daughter, Sarah Franklin Bache on January 26, 1784.

For my own part I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen the Representative of our Country. He is a Bird of bad moral character… For the Truth the Turkey is in Comparison a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America... He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on.

 

We might concur with Mr. Franklin, as we get to see these marvelous creatures regularly as we drive to our shop through the Los Gatos countryside.

Christmas Cards by Patience Brewster

This year, as we have in the past, we have a wonderful selection of Christmas and Holiday cards by Patience Brewster.  Patience Brewster (yes, there is a Patience!) is a highly creative lady.  Her cards give the recipient "a little lift, a little wish, a little cry, a little hope and maybe a little surprise!"  "And to make the planet happy, the printing is done locally, using soy inks, wind power and paper from responsible resources and replenished forests."

These cards are pretty, whimsical and thoughtful.  The messages are simple yet  poignant.  We present below a sampling of our Patience Brewster Christmas and Holiday card offering.