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Vintage Christmas Photo Garland

December 24, 2021 By Talya Tate Boerner

Vintage Photo Garland

This fun vintage Christmas photo garland will take you all of five minutes to string along your mantel or bookcase or windowsill.

Vintage photos deserve to be displayed, y’all.

What You’ll Need

How easy is this? All you need is old photos, a length of tinsel or ribbon or string, and clothespins or other clips.

I used plain, small clothespins. You could fancy them up by adding glitter or paint. Or, you could purchase holiday-themed ones at a craft shop. I went the easy route.

Whatever materials you use, this simple vintage Christmas photo garland will add a few memories to your holiday decor.

vintage christmas picture garland

History Up Close

Take a look at the marvelous details…

  1. 1965. I was a little over three years old, my sister eight months. It was the Christmas Santa brought Fisher Price Little People and their bus to our house. We still have the bus and the people. Oh, and check out my gun holster.

Vintage Christmas photos

2. We are at Nana and Papa’s house. No one looks all that excited about Christmas Eve, but I am holding my glee inside (while holding my brand new Cheerful Tearful doll. Staci got one too—there are two boxes in the far corner of the photo. How stylish we all were!

Christmas at the homeplace

3. This third photo and the next one appear to be the same Christmas. I’m guessing this was Christmas Eve night. Momma forced us to dress in Little House on the Farm fashion. The dolls and high chairs must have been gifts from Nana and Papa because they are already on display. And there’s also a Cootie game which I have already begun investigating.

Christmas Eve

4. Same year, Christmas morning? Santa definitely came! He gave us two wooden puzzles, a Monkees album, a wooden train (which is still at Momma’s house), and a game—maybe Monopoly? Also, in the canister beside the tree, an American Plastics Bricks set (aka the very first Lego set).

Question for all you critical thinkers: If this was the same year (and it appears to be), why is the Christmas Eve night picture black-and-white and the Christmas morning picture in color? Was it like Dorothy landing in Oz? Everything brightened after Santa came?

vintage christmas

5. Now we jump to 1972 and the fabulous girls’ choir of Brinkley Chapel Church (Boon Chapel for you Gracie Lee fans.) The main thing to notice in this photo is the board on the wall. Enrollment 17. All 17 were on time but only 10 prepared their lessons.

Brinkley Chapel girls

6.  If ever there was a picture to capture the excitement of Christmas Eve, this is it.

Merry Christmas

I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s Christmas countdown. Santa Claus is coming, and as Buddy the Elf says, “There’s plenty of room for everyone on the nice list.”

Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

Filed Under: Crafts, Holiday Tagged With: Christmas crafts, Christmas decorating, old photographs, vintage Christmas

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Comments

  1. Ginger says

    January 15, 2022 at 6:25 am

    Love the “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” collaboration!!!
    (You find the most interesting music.)


Hi! I'm Talya Tate Boerner. Writer, Reader, Arkansas Master Naturalist / Master Gardener, Author of

THE ACCIDENTAL SALVATION OF GRACIE LEE (2016)

GENE, EVERYWHERE: a life-changing visit from my father-in-law (2020)

BERNICE RUNS AWAY (2022)

THE THIRD ACT OF THEO GRUENE (coming 2025)

Recent Ramblings:

  • Sunday Letter: 11.23.25
  • Maggie and Miss Ladybug: My New Children’s Nature Book
  • Sunday Letter: November 9, 2025
  • Sunday Letter: Oct 26, 2025
  • Sunday Letter: Oct 5, 2025

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