Old Santas and cotton ball trees

This celluloid Santa has been in the family for a long, long time. Except for a slightly squashed nose, he's in good shape considering the miles he's traveled and all the little hands that have touched him. Celluloid is light as a feather, and very fragile. I first remember him from our Grandma's house in the 50's, where he stood on the chimney of a cardboard doll house that I adored. He looked old even then, and slightly sinister like all good German Santas. Eventually he came to me, and now I bring him out for a few weeks every Christmas.

The cotton ball tree behind him was made by Amanda when she was 6, and the perfect little sleigh was created by John in shop class when he was in 7th grade. It's darn good metal working for a kid. You can see why he went on to tinker with airplanes for a living.

There were many old celluloid Santas on Ebay, but I was surprised to find one exactly like ours:

The Ebay description said he was made in Japan circa 1930, and he's in excellent shape, other than the slight dent on the nose (like ours!) The bidding was at $15.90 this morning, and if Grandma paid 5 cents for hers 70 years ago, that's a good profit. But I wouldn't part with mine for $100!

And of course, the sleigh and the cotton ball tree are priceless. :-)