Vintage Thingie Thursday: Vintage Christmas lights

Welcome everyone to Vintage Thingies Thursday. If you have a love for vintage things, well....you have come to the right place. We have a really good time each and every week!!!
If you are new to this party, please take the time to read and follow the instructions for participating in Vintage Thingies Thursday, click HERE. I try and keep things fairly simple, so please make sure you follow the instructions. Please only ONE link per week. Lastly, if you link in, LINK back to my blog, so everyone can see all of the vintage goodies on display that day. If you don't link back here, they won't know who to visit......thanks so much.

I found some great deals at an estate sale a few weekends ago....among some of the treasures  were some great vintage Christmas lights. The best part of the find was that they were still in the original boxes....and they work!!



I just love the graphics on the box!! So retro!!!



I am amazed that the cords and bulbs were in such good shape......love them!!

Thanks for linking in to Vintage Thingie Thursday....I'd like to leave you today with this thought....try to give a smile or a kind word to everyone you meet in any given day....you never know when that very person is trying their hardest to hold it all together in spite of their hearts being shattered into a million pieces....that one kind gesture just might make a huge difference.

Vintage Thingie Thursday: Vintage Bread and Butter Pickles Recipe

Welcome everyone to Vintage Thingies Thursday. If you have a love for vintage things, well....you have come to the right place. We have a really good time each and every week!!!
If you are new to this party, please take the time to read and follow the instructions for participating in Vintage Thingies Thursday, click HERE. I try and keep things fairly simple, so please make sure you follow the instructions. Please only ONE link per week. Lastly, if you link in, LINK back to my blog, so everyone can see all of the vintage goodies on display that day. If you don't link back here, they won't know who to visit......thanks so much.

I had several friends comment on facebook this week for my canning recipes I have been using. You see, when you have lots of vines that are loaded with things that look like this.....

You have to make a decision to not let them go to waste and start canning. Honestly, it was a good excuse to put my hubby to work.....he sliced and sliced until he got a brilliant idea and starting using the food processor....he proclaims now, he will never chop again!

I was able to snap this photo before he got so smart!!! If you ever want to have a couple of extra hands in the kitchen, husband really chop vegetables pretty well....try it sometime!!

Here is a recipe that was in a very old cookbook I picked up an estate sale a few years ago....very easy and very good!!!

Bread and Butter Pickles

3 pounds medium size cucumbers
2 medium white onions, sliced thin
1/2  large red pepper, washed, seeded and chopped
2  Tablespoons canning salt
1  1/4 C. sugar
1 1/4  C. cider vinegar


1 1/2  teaspoon mustard seed
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/8 teaspoon  ground cloves


Wash cucumbers and cut off  both ends.  Slice cucumbers as thin as possible. A food processor works great, or slice by hand. Next,  layer cucumbers, onions, peppers and salt in a bowl. Cover and let stand for 1 hour. Drain cucumbers and onions and peppers and rinse in cold water.


Next: Combine vinegar, sugar and spices in large none reactive pot and bring to a boil. Add cucumbers, onions and peppers to pot and heat, but do not boil. Remove from heat. Pack pickles into clean jars, leaving 1/2" head space. Wipe jar rims. Seal. Process 5 minutes in a boiling water bath. Makes 4 pints

I doubled this recipe and made 8 pints. I'd say I had about 10-14 cucumbers ranging from mid size to a few large ones. I had two bowls full of sliced cucumbers, onions and peppers. I know it is hard to gauge how much will make from the cucumbers you have, but this is as close as I can get to what we used. They are sliced very thin, not thick.


We also have canned two batches of jalapeno peppers, and I will be canning more sweet pickles and peppers this weekend. I can hardly believe we have had enough peppers to can so many already...the vines are FULL of peppers...so I have lots to do!! I am also making dill pickles from a vintage recipe too! I am thinking I will be canning all day on Sunday, as I am over run with vegetables this year. 

If i decide to try something is must be easy and quick as I start doubting myself if it is not that way. I will see how it goes and post that recipe next week on the dill pickles  and show you how it is done....step by step so if you want to try it, that way you can follow along.

Here are the peppers from the first batch we canned. I used a great recipe from a fellow vintage thingie thursday participant, Potholes and Pantyhose. You can find her step by step recipe HERE....very easy!!!


And to keep with the rules....here is a vintage canning jar......

......the only thing canned in these jars are vintage buttons!! Now that is one easy canning job here folks...fill, close the lid, sit on a shelf and done!!!


Happy Vintage Thingie Thursday!!! If you try the pickle recipe, I'd love to hear how it went!!