Ruby Lane's Past Times Newsletter for December 2006

IN THIS ISSUE:

• December Ho-Ho-HOT SHOP: Welcome to Caitlin's Collectibles
  
• December Editor's Pick: Reflecting History - Toys
  

DECEMBER HO-HO-HOT SHOP: WELCOME TO CAITLIN'S COLLECTIBLES

'Tis the season - and if you love vintage holiday postcards, Caitlin's Collectibles is a shop you won't want to miss. Caitlin Kosheba of Caitliln's Collectibles specializes in offering a wide variety of holiday and greeting postcards, so there is something for everyone!

There's "Children Dancing Around Santa" ($21), an excellent embossed card in near-mint condition. Santa is watching three small children dance around him. He is holding a decorated tree and has a basket of toys on his back. The back is clean and unused.

Then there's Santa With Pine Bough and Bell ($18) which is a beautiful embossed card published by Samson Bros, hand-dated. Part of series 31 F.Card is in very good condition with light marks in corners from being in an album.

Ellen Clapsaddle, Frances Brundage and John Winsch are some of Caitlin's other personal favorites, so you will often find their cards in her shop as well.

Caitlin's goal is to make sure that every customer is a happy customer. We invite you to Caitlin's shop: Caitlin's Collectibles.

DECEMBER EDITOR'S PICK: REFLECTING HISTORY - TOYS

Making an effort to decorate and celebrate during the holidays is most often thought only to be of significant value for the children in the family. Whether engaging in festive activities to help instill an appreciation for traditions passed down from generation to generation, or just for the sheer thrill of delighting a little boy or girl, we tell ourselves that toys are necessary complements to a successful holiday season.


A visual tool for child and adult alike, toys can help us to become comfortable with cultures that differ from our own, or reveal past fascinations we may have had with them as they arrived, utterly new to our shores and sensibilities.

Perhaps to some extent toys help to give children the feeling that they have some measure of control over elements of an adult world that might otherwise seem overwhelming. Most certainly they can be instrumental in stirring imagination and spurring contemplation of alternative fields of interest. Sometimes pursuit of a childhood dream can thus grow into a life long pursuit. Even if Daddy was an accountant, not a cowboy.

So, yes, generational celebrations are mostly important only for the children in the family. But, every adult experienced childhood. And the child we once were still resides within us all. Recognizing this truth should bring with it the realization that experiencing a joyful holiday season is no less important for the child inside the adult, than for those wee humans in the family still in the act of 'growing up.' Put a group of people ranging in age in a room full of antique or vintage toys and then observe. Those still in their youth are playful or enchanted with the toys, while their parents will be amused or entertained. Seniors might grow sentimental and reminisce about the toys with which they once played. But not one person in the room will remain unmoved, for toys have a direct connection to the hearts of all.

Wordsworth wrote, "The child is the father of the man." If toys are a mirror that can be said to accurately reflect human history - all of our inventions, materials, pursuits and even our mistakes - then toys give history a face. And the image they reflect is the face of a child.

Happy Holidays!