Supermarket special

I love finding penguin ornaments when I’m not looking for them. This one came during a routine trip to the grocery store.

Glass penguin with detailed knit hat, glittery buttons, plaid scarf with red glitter highlights, holding candy cane and small basket

Acquired: November 27, 2010, Weis Market, Stroudsburg, Pa.

Number: 0887

Size:

Price:

Mountaineers

It’s a short drive over the mountain from my house to the outlet shopping center where I found this winter sports trio of penguins. They joined the collection just in time to join the other winter fun penguins on the tree at the Trolley Museum in Scarnton.

Penguin trio on snowshoes, skis and sled, with flowing scarves and glittery bellies, “Let it snow” on snowshoe penguin

Acquired: November 27, 2010, Corningware Corelle Revere Store, The Crossings, Tannersville, Pa.

Number: 0884 0885 0886

Size: 3 inches tall

Price: $6.73 total (50 percent off)

Annalee again

Annalee makes her second appearance on My Penguin Tree with this adorable penguin flopped over a cushy snowball. Look at my other Annalee ornament by clicking here.  I wonder how many other Annalee penguin ornaments are out there.

Annalee penguin in a Santa hat on a fluffy snowball

Acquired: November 26, 2010, Jody’s Silk Florist and Christmas Store, Fairfield, N.J.

Number: 0883

Size: 4.75 inches tall

Price: $16

Does a penguin have lips?

I really took my time trying to decide whether I should buy the kissing penguin ornament or not. For one thing, it’s got those disturbing lips, bug eyes, scraggily hair and flesh-colored cheeks. It was also kind of expensive. And it’s not very well painted. Finally I decided I’d better take it with me, or else it might never find a loving home. I think I hung it on the back of the tree. Another factor in my decision is that I only found a few penguin ornaments in this rather large Christmas store in New Jersey. If there had been more penguins, I might have passed on the kissing penguin. I didn’t have any reservations about the little penguin with the giant candy cane. Both are from the same company, so I think I did the right thing to buy both and keep them together.

Katherine’s Collection penguin with big, glittery kissing lips and glittery top hat and big red velvet bow tie

Acquired: November 26, 2010, Jody’s Silk Florist and Christmas Store, Fairfield, N.J.

Number: 0881

Size: 5 inches tall

Price: $20

Katherine’s Collection running penguin with giant red, green and pink glittery candy cane, top hat with holly trim and red ribbon bow tie

Acquired: November 26, 2010, Jody’s Silk Florist and Christmas Store, Fairfield, N.J.

Number: 0882

Size: 5.25 inches tall

Price: $24

A new stash

I discovered a surprising new supply of penguin ornaments last year at Walgreen’s. I stopped in for other Christmas decorations and left with a bag full of penguins. I even found more when I went back a couple of weeks later. Cheap too. I’ve already posted a couple of the Walgreen’s ornaments January 21st and February 25th. My only regret is that I didn’t buy the baseball cap that looked like a snowman’s head on my first visit. When I went back, they were all gone.

Big gold, silver and green jingle bells with felt penguin heads, knit hats and big red bow ties and scarf

Acquired: November 21 and December 8 (green), 2010, Walgreen’s, Stroudsburg, Pa.

Number: 0875 0876 0897

Size: 4 inches tall

Price: 99¢ each

Flattish felt penguin in green vest and red top hat

Acquired: November 21, 2010, Walgreen’s, Stroudsburg

Number: 0879

Size: 5 inches tall

Price: $2.50 (2 for $5)

Felt coiled penguin face with green, red and white checked scarf and red Santa hat

Acquired: November 21, 2010, Walgreen’s, Stroudsburg, Pa.

Number: 0880

Size: 7 inches tall

Price: $2.50 (2 for $5)

Big

It’s big. It’s green. There are identical penguins on each side. It’s also very light, hollow and it feels like it’s made of metal. There’s not very much else to say except, “Thanks, Target.”

Be Merry huge green disk with penguins on front and back

Acquired: November 21, 2010, Target, Stroudsburg, Pa.

Number: 0874

Size: 6 inches diameter

Price: $3

On the nose

This ornament looks like it would make a nice 8 ball except for the little beak that sticks out in front.

Merrymarket eight ball penguin head with stickout beak

Acquired: November 21, 2010, Target, Stroudsburg, Pa.

Number: 0873

Size: 2.75 inches

Price: $2

More Macy’s madness, part 9: The end, for now

After two days at Macy’s, I ended up with 29 new penguin ornaments, 19 one day and 10 the next, I think. That’s a lot of penguins.

Flat clear body filled with snow, dangling orange feet and white pipe cleaner scarf

Acquired: November 20, 2011, Macy’s Herald Square, New York

Number: 0868

Size: 5.5 inches tall

Price: $6.48 (originally $12)

More Macy’s madness, part 8: More blue

If I hadn’t gone back to Macy’s on that second day, I would have missed out on this excellent blue penguin. I can’t believe I didn’t see it on the first trip to Macy’s, but I’m really glad I found it when I went back for the other penguins.

Light blue glass penguin with gifts, red scarf with gold dots

Acquired: November 20, 2011, Macy’s Herald Square, New York

Number: 0866

Size: 4 inches tall

Price: $7.02 (originally $13)

More Macy’s madness, part 7: Overnight overload

The penguin at the top is another ornament I found on Day 1 at Macy’s, and I thought I had another one-of-a-kind. When I went back the next day I found the two glass ornaments I wanted and the missing reindeer Lollysticks penguin But there was more. It turns out that I either missed an entire section of ornaments the first day, or the busy elves at Macy’s put up a whole new section overnight. As you can see, I found plenty more ornaments that matched this style. I really like the one with the snowflake halo floating over its head.

Glass, sparkly ball body with multicolored knit scarf and red glittery earmuffs

Acquired: November 19, 2011, Macy’s Herald Square, New York

Number: 0847

Size: 4.25 inches tall

Price: $6.80 (originally $13)

Clear starry glass body filled with sequins with multi-colored knit scarf and green earmuffs with red band

Acquired: November 20, 2011, Macy’s Herald Square, New York

Number: 0862

Size: 4.5 inches tall

Price: $6.48 (originally $10)

Scarf with multicolored triangles, red hat with purple trim and gold snowflakes

Acquired: November 20, 2011, Macy’s Herald Square, New York

Number: 0867

Size: 4.75 inches tall

Price: $5.94 (originally $11)

Plastic snowflake halo

Acquired: November 20, 2011, Macy’s Herald Square, New York

Number: 0870

Price: $5.12 (originally $9.50)

Skater on a snowflake with multicolored scarf, red earmuffs

Acquired: November 20, 2011, Macy’s Herald Square, New York

Number: 0871

Size: 3 inches tall

Price: $5.13 (originally $9.50)

Stuffed plush penguin with white snowflake tutu and multicolored scarf

Acquired: November 20, 2011, Macy’s Herald Square, New York

Number: 0872

Size: 7 inches tall

Price: $7.02 (originally $12)

Snow globe on light blue ice base with dancer in pink tutu and red and gold scarf

Acquired: November 20, 2011, Macy’s Herald Square, New York

Number: 0869

Size: 2.75 inches tall

Price: $7.02 (originally $13)

More Macy’s madness, part 6: Going back for more

I got myself in trouble when I saw some glass ornaments that looked familiar. Instead of buying duplicates, I took phone photos of them to check against my blog pics. Sure enough, I had some of the penguins already, but there were a couple that I didn’t have. I wasn’t sure it was worth going to back to Macy’s to get them, but I also decided to look on line to find our more about these Lollysticks ornaments from Department 56. There are glass and wood versions of these penguins and they come in sets of various sizes, and it turned out I was missing the small penguin on a reindeer “pony stick.” That was enough to justify going back to Macy’s to look for the missing penguin. Little did I know.

Two reindeer and one pull cart Department 56 Lollysticks penguins

Acquired: November 19, 2011, Macy’s Herald Square, New York

Number: 0844 0845 0846

Size: 3, 4 and 4.5 inches tall

Price: $10.50 each ($2 off)

Department 56 Lollysticks with orange and green leaf hats

Acquired: November 19, 2011, Macy’s Herald Square, New York

Number: 0849 0850

Size: 5 inches tall

Price: $13 (originally $15)

Two medium-sized Department 56 Lollysticks

No cart, no reindeer

Acquired: November 19, 2011, Macy’s Herald Square, New York

Number: 0855 0856

Size: 3.3 inches tall

Price: $7.50 each (originally $8.50)

Four mini Department 56 Lollysticks, one pulling a cart

Acquired: November 19, 2011, Macy’s Herald Square, New York

Number: 0857 0858 0859 0860

Size: 1.75 to 2.25 inches tall

Price: 2 at $6 each and 2 at $7 each (two marked off $1, but not the others)

Little reindeer rider

Acquired: November 20, 2010, Macy’s Herald Swuare, New York

Number: 0865

Size: 3 inches tall

Price: $7 

More Macy’s madness, part 5: Radko redux

I felt lucky to get away from Macy’s with just one Christopher Radko ornament. Even with a 10 percent discount, the Radko’s make up a big chunk of the total bill at checkout. This ornament has a big, gold CR signature on the back. I’ve never noticed that on the other Radkos. Its either a new feature or I haven’t been paying attention.

Christopher “Radko Floatin’ Friends” with North Pole sign on an ice floe

Acquired: November 19, 2011, Macy’s Herald Square, New York

Number: 0861

Size: 4.75 inches tall

Price: $44 (originally $49) 

More Macy’s madness, part 4: Living large

Martha Stewart showed up at Macy’s last year with this stylish silver penguin. I think this is my second Martha Stewart ornament. The other one came from Kmart.

Martha Stewart Collection silver frosted glass penguin

Acquired: November 19, 2011, Macy’s Herald Square, New York

Number: 0854

Size: 4 inches tall

Price: $3.51 (originally $6.50)

More Macy’s madness, part 3: Jingle all the way

I think I’ll be able to put together a musical tree next year. It seems like I have enough jingle bell ornaments to fill a tree of their own, but I know it’s probably my imagination. I wanted to do a music themed penguin tree last year, but too many of the musical ornaments went to the blue tree or to the winter sports tree at the Trolley Museum, like this on did.

Skier on a big white jingle bell

Acquired: November 19, 2011, Macy’s Herald Square, New York

Number: 0851

Size: 4.5 inches tall

Price: $5.39 (originally $10) 

More Macy’s madness, part 2: Singular sensations

As soon as I arrived at Macy’s Holiday Lane, I grabbed a hand basket and began working the room. The fun part about shopping for ornaments at Macy’s is that there are ornaments on the trees, ornaments on the walls, ornaments stacked on tables and counters, ornaments spilling out of baskets under the trees. Everywhere you look you see nothing but Christmas ornaments. At other Christmas shops, all the penguins are usually in one corner, but at Macy’s, they are spread around. It’s kind of like the way I had a blue tree, a glass tree and a wood tree at home, plus stuffed penguins in the windows. The trees have themes at Macy’s, and penguins can pop up anywhere, sometimes in matching sets or groups, but often as singular standouts like this dressed up dude with some serious stockings.

Stubby penguin with red striped top hat, springy wings and dangling, striped legs

Acquired: November 19, 2011, Macy’s Herald Square, New York

Number: 0853

Size: 4 inches tall

Price: $4.96 (originally $9)

More Macy’s madness, part 1: Day one

I guess I should just stay away from Macy’s. They tend to go overboard at Christmas, and they really like the penguin. I’ve had several Macy’s shopping sprees over the years where I take home 20 or more penguin ornaments at once. Last year was about the worst, not because it was more penguins than ever before (which it was), but because the madness lasted two days. It began innocently enough with typically excellent ornaments like this one.

Color-changing, lightup snow globe with clay dough body on top

Acquired: November 19, 2011, Macy’s Herald Square, New York

Number: 0848

Size: 4 inches tall

Price: $5.39 (originally $10)

You name it

I think there might be a penguin ornament version of anything that exists. Here’s exhibit A, a penguin wrestler. I don’t know what else to say.

Wrestler

Acquired: November 7, 2010, Target, Stroudsburg

Number: 0843

Size: 4 inches tall

Price: $7

Penguin polka

I must have been in the craft store to get supplies for the Trolley Museum tree when I found this and the other penguins from the last couple of posts.

Timeless Treasures by Nicole round clay dough penguin with polka dot scarf

Acquired: November 7, 2000, A.C. Moore, Stroudsburg, Pa.

Number: 0841

Size: 4.75 inches tall

Price: $2.49 

Another one of these

I knew this one looked familiar, but I bought it anyway because it was only 50 cents. The googly eyes are a little different.

Foam cutout

Acquired: November 7, 2000, A.C. Moore, Stroudsburg, Pa.

Number: 0840 (same as 0397)

Size: 0840

Size: 4.5 inches tall

Price: 50¢

Blue stocking

The craft store had a whole rack of these bread dough ornaments, about 40 I think, which would be a fun way to decorate a tree. Of course, I was only interested in the penguin ornament, this one a penguin on a blue stocking. It was a nice addition to my blue penguin Christmas tree. A real bargain too.

Chelsea Home Imports blue bread dough stocking

Acquired: November 7, 2000, A.C. Moore, Stroudsburg, Pa.

Number: 0839

Size: 3 inches tall

Price: 50¢

In style

Some beautiful Christmas decorations come to us from Jim Shore designs. The Santa Claus figurines are out of this world, but this is the only penguin ornament I’ve seen from them. And other than the eggshell ornaments from the previous post, it was the only penguin ornament I wanted in the Annapolis gift shop where I found it. There were a number of other penguin ornaments, but I already had all of them.

Plaster or ceramic penguin that looks like carved wood with blue brocade design on front, red bow tie and checkered coat, Jim Shore Heartwood Creek design

Acquired: October 30, 2011, Gregory Guzzi Gifts, Annapolis, Md.

Number: 0838

Size: 5 inches tall

Price: $19.99

Eggsellent

I don’t expect these ornaments to last very long. I didn’t even think they would make it home intact, but the shop where I bought them each packed in two segments of an egg carton that had been cut into individual cups. I have the ornaments carefully stored, each one in its own soft tissue nest. Keep your fingers crossed until next Christmas and we'll see how they do. I've photographed each from two sides, but the big one in the middle with the two pictures below it are three views of one egg.

Four painted eggshells, made in Autstria, with various winter scenes

Acquired: October 30, 2010, Gregory Guzzi Gifts, Annapolis, Md.

Number: 0834 0835 0836 0837

Size: 2.25 inches

Price: $14.99 each