Blue star

This was supposed to be a Christmas gift, but it somehow got lost in the holiday hoopla. As far as I’m concerned, there’s no such thing as a late penguin ornament. It’s always Christmas here at My Penguin Tree, however this penguin is the end of the line, at least for now. I don’t have any more ornaments to write about and I don’t think there’ll be any more until we get closer to Christmas again. I’m happy to have a nice ornament like this as the last one, because it’ll be what everyone sees when they come to the blog over the coming months. I have big plans for this ornament. It’s going to look great at the top of the blue tree next Christmas.

Metal star with penguin and cardinal

Acquired: January 25, 2012

Number: 1058

Size: 3.5 inches tall

Price: gift from Jen Babaz and Evan Holt

Surprise inside

This is a really nice ornament, but the best part about it was the dark chocolate nonpareils inside. Mmmm.

Candy tin

Acquired: December 26, 2011

Number: 1038

Size: 4 inches tall

Price: gift from my sister and brother-in-law, Xena and John Galietti

Juggler

This penguin came with a platter full of goodies, and it looks good enough to eat with a coating of its own that seems sugary sweet.

Little, glittery snowball juggler

Acquired: December 26, 2011

Number: 1037

Size: 2.25 inches tall

Price: gift from my sister and brother-in-law, Xena and John Galietti

Silver beauty

I only got one penguin on Christmas Day, but there were other presents that came early or late. This was one of several from my sister and brother-in-law who came to visit the day after. Its sparkly coating really captures the light. It makes me wonder if I have enough ornaments like it to pull off and silver and gold tree. We’ll see next year.

Silver glittery glass penguin

Acquired: December 26, 2011

Number: 1036

Size: 4 inches tall

Price: gift from my sister and brother-in-law, Xena and John Galietti

Christmas crystal

Penguin ornaments poured in as Christmas approached, but this is the only one that came on Christmas Day. It’s from my good friends, the Babaz family, who found it at the Skytop Lodge gift shop where two of them work. It’s also one of my favorite local places, especially around the holidays when they construct a huge gingerbread house in the lobby and decorate the halls with dozens of Christmas trees.

Crystal penguin from Skytop Lodge gift shop

Acquired: December 25, 2011

Number: 1035

Size: 4 inches tall

Price: gift from the Babaz family

Double the fun

When I got these ornament as gifts, I was hoping that they weren’t duplicates of some I bought several years ago, but that wasn’t the case. Not that I mind getting duplicate ornaments. The other S’mores ornament I bought was one of several from a baseball trip to Missouri, but the new one is the only one from a good colleague and friend. The other snowman ornament is like one that I found in a drugstore near where I live, but this one came from my sister and brother-in-law who showed up with his parents at one of my retirement celebrations.

Midwest CBK S’mores snowman

Acquired: December 14, 2011

Number: 1018

Size: 2.5 inches tall

Price: gift from colleague, Karen, my last week at work

Snowman on a sled with two penguins in red and blue hats

Acquired: December 14, 2011

Number: 1019

Size: 3.5 inches tall

Price: gift from my sister Xena and brother-in-law John at retirement celebration

Meant to be

My friends the Babazes say this ornament magically showed up with their other stuff when they went to check out during a shopping trip. I’m glad it did.

Penguin flying in a glittery snow globe with changing lights

Acquired: December 25, 2010, gift from the Babaz family

Number: 0910

Package deal

I don’t know if this is really an ornament. It was part of the decoration on a gift from my sister. The way I see it, if it has a loop for hanging, I’m putting it on a tree.

Flat felt penguin with holly trimmed Santa hat and red scarf

Acquired: December 25, 2010, gift from my sister Gale

Number: 0909

Size: 6 inches tall

Little gem

After my conference in Virginia I was able to spend some time with my friends Steve and SallyAnn in Maryland and my niece Becky, who came up from Roanoke. SallyAnn made this little gem of an ornament for me. The penguin is actually a glass bead, which SallyAnn embellished with a few more tiny glass danglers. You can get an idea how small this ornament is if you look at the thickness of its wire hanging hook or at the tree light at the bottom center of the photo. SallyAnn does wonderful things with beads. You can see some examples here: http://www.etsy.com/people/bluegatorjewelry

Glass bead

Acquired: October 28, 2010, gift from SallyAnn Rogers, Mt. Rainier, Md.

Number: 0832

Size: 2 inches tall

Four heads are better than one

This set of felt penguin ornaments was a nice gift from my niece. At first I thought they were coasters, but I was just as happy to find out I had four new penguin ornaments. When I went to measure these for the record during packing, I couoldn’t find them. I remembered putting them in their plastic box, but I didn’t remember what happened to them after that. Finally, they turned up last night, but now I’m looking for my own head. Jeez.

Holiday Passport World of Gifts, World Market, made especially for CostPlus, four coaster-like felt penguin heads

Acquired: October 23, 2010

Number: 0816 0817 0818 0819

Size: 3.5 inches diameter

Gift from my niece Becky Parsons

Penguin Obsessed

When I started My Penguin Tree last January, I estimated that it would take about a year to get all of the ornaments posted online. A year and a few weeks later, I’ve reached that point. All the ornaments that I owned then are now archived here. Last week, my friend SallyAnn asked me what I was going to when I run out of penguins. Well, we don’t have to worry about that just yet, because since last year, I’ve added almost 150 penguin ornaments to the collection (although some of them have already been posted) and there’ll no doubt be more in the months ahead. After that, I’ve got a lot of other Christmas penguins that aren’t ornaments. Plates. Towels. Coasters. Tree skirts. Mugs. A lot of mugs. (What do you think, Becky, mypenguinmugs.blogspot.com?) At some point this year, I will run out of penguins or at least the flood will be reduced to a trickle. Then we’ll see what happens. Meanwhile, here’s the latest addition to the family, a sweet gift from our friend Ashley over at Decorating Obsessed. She has a penguin tree and a good eye for excellent penguin ornaments, among other things. This penguin seems like it’s made of gingerbread and it looks good enough to eat. You know, it’s hard to believe that after 900 of these, an ornament like this can come along and knocks my socks off. Thanks, Ashley.

Little gingerbread penguin

Acquired: January 22, 2010

Number: 0912 (changed from 0911 on Feb. 23, 2011)
Size: 4 inches tall (added Feb. 23, 2011)

Big Christmas

The stylish white ceramic ornament is from Jonathan Adler, who also designed a similar salt and pepper shaker as well as a larger penguin figurine. It makes me wish there were a black ornament too, just like the salt and pepper set. This was just one of three ornaments my sister and brother in law gave me one Christmas. The other two were a tiny snow globe penguin and a crafty felt ornament, both form Crate and Barrel, I think, and both excellent additions to my penguin tree.

Jonathan Adler unglazed white porcelain stylized penguin

Acquired: December 22, 2009, gift from Xena and John Galietti, my sister and brother-in-law

Number: 766

Size: 3.5 inches tall

Crate and barrel tiny snow globe body with red glass hat and scarf

Acquired: December 22, 2009, gift from Xena and John Galietti

Number: 0767

Size: 2.25 inches tall

Crate and Barrel wide-stitched felt pengun with big red hat , red and white scarf, big brown beak and yellow feet

Acquired: December 22, 2011, gift from Xena and John Galietti

Number: 0768

Size: 6 inches tall

Pine cone penguin

If I were giving out awards, this pine cone penguin would probably win best use of natural products in making a penguin Christmas tree ornament. It’s a beauty.

Pottery Barn pine cone body with bottle brush head, black beak and eyes, wooden wings and feet

Acquired: December 22, 2009, gift from niece Jenny Parsons

Number: 0765

Size:

Catching up

If you’re trying to write a daily blog, don’t ever get behind, even if you don’t think people are paying attention. It’s really hard to catch up. I had a strange cold after Christmas and somehow lost my grip on the blog and a few of life’s other details. Making matters worse, I was in the middle of cataloging ornaments that I collected in the summer of 2009. It involved a lot of ornaments and a complicated series of events that was difficult to sort out. So, instead of just skipping a few days, I thought it would be best to back date some posts to keep the continuity going. That means I’ve been working on the posts, but not posting them until I could get to this point and explain the lapse. But it looks like I’m back in business, back in good health and back on schedule. In keeping with the catching up theme, I’ve got a few ornaments that I skipped over earlier because I needed to reshoot them after unpacking the decorations this Christmas. The penguin in a walnut shell was a gift. I bought the box of 12 wooden ornaments when I went to the store to buy index cards for cataloguing all my penguins.

Walnut shell

Acquired: early 1980s, probably a gift

Number: 0049

Size: 2.25 inches long

Set of 12 wooden miniature winter penguins

Acquired: November 25, 2006, Target, Middletown, N.J.

Number: 0302 through 0313

Size: 2 to 3.5 inches tall

Price: $9.99 set

Just like old times

Anne Kloster wasn’t able to tell me much about the ornaments except that some were considerably old. I hope some day that I can find out more about the penguins I found at her shop in Regensberg, Germany.  This glittery bulbous penguin is almost certainly from the mid 1980s, because I have two other glass ornaments that are exactly the same shape. 

The only difference is the paint job. I don’t know exactly when I got the first two, but it seems like I’ve always had them. At least one of them was a gift, I think.

Another ornament I hope I can identify is this Christopher Radko penguin. I’ll have to see if I can dig up some old Radko catalogs in order to find out what year it was made. It can’t be more than 25 years and it’s probably made more like 10 or 12 years ago. Just a guess.

Glittery bulbous glass ornament with red eyes and beak

Acquired: July 1, 2009, Regensburger-Tändlerei, Regensburg, Germany

Number: 0655

Size: 4.75 inches tall

Price: about 19.80 €

Two bulbous glass ornaments

Acquired: mid 1980s, probably at least one a gift

Number: 0159 0160

Size: about 4.75 inches tall

Well-dressed glass Christopher Radko genteleman

Acquired: July 1, 2009, Regensburger-Tändlerei, Regensburg, Germany

Number: 0653

Size:

Price: 49 euros

Happy birthday

This penguin was a decorative tag on a Christmas present from my sister Gale, a set of handmade penguin placemats and table runner. Well, today is her birthday, so this post is for her. Happy Birthday, Gale! Love you.

Felt gift decoration

Acquired: December 15, 2010

Number: 0578

Size: 4.25 inches tall

Repeats

I felt like this pair of penguins looked familiar, but I wasn’t certain enough to leave A Christmas Past without buying them. It turned out that I already had the guy, a gift from my niece Becky, who found it in Chincoteague, Va., where she was working that summer. Just as well, because now I had an extra. Last year I hung one from the rearview mirror in my car. My Penguin Tree to go!

These penguins look a lot like another penguin couple for which I also happen to have two of the male. I bought Thaddeus and Millicent at Disneyland on my way home from Australia. A few weeks later, my friend and colleague Wallace Schroeder, gave me a couple of ornaments, including another Thaddeus.

Second police officer not shown)

Also at A Christmas Past, I bought a penguin firefighter and penguin police officer that wound up being duplicates. A year later, I bought an identical set, thinking that they would go with a mail carrier ornament. Oh, well, I was wrong. However, all of these are extremely nice ornaments, and I don’t mind at all having repeats.

TJ’s Christmas penguin couple decked out in red

Acquired: September 28, 2008, A Christmas Past, New Hope, Pa.

Number: 0517 0518

Size: 4 inches tall

Male penguin in red vest and hat

Acquired: August 15, 2008, gift from my niece Becky on her birthday

Number: 490

Size: 4 inches tall

Department 56 Christmas Krinkles Thaddeus and Millicent Penguin

Acquired: December 2, 2004, World of Disney Store, Downtown Disney, Anaheim, Calif.

Number: 0256 0257

Size: 4.25 to 4.75 inches tall

Thaddeus

Acquired: December 18, 2004, gift from Wallace Schroeder

Number: 0263

Size: 4.75 inches tall

Kurt S. Adler firefighter and police officer 1

Acquired: September 28, 2008, A Christmas Past, New Hope, Pa.

Number: 0519 0520

Size: 4 inches tall

Price:$7.95 each

Kurt S. Adler firefighter and police officer 2

Acquired: September 13, 2009, A Christmas to Remember, Lake George, N.Y.

Number: 0718 0719

Size: 4 inches tall

Price: $9.99 each

(Note that in just short of a year I acquired 200 penguin ornaments.)

Reduce, reuse and recycle

When your refrigerator light bulb burns out you can always find a way to put it to another use. All it takes is a little paint and a glittery felt hat to turn somebody’s trash into somebody else’s Christmas ornament. My sister Gale found this for me a bazaar at her New Horizons United Methodist Church in Southwest Ranches, Fla.

Recycled refrigerator light bulb ornament

Acquired: December 21, 2007

Number: 0444

Size: 3.25 inches tall

Ring in the new

This penguin was scheduled to run next week, but I moved it up after I wrote the title  “Ring out the old” on yesterday’s bell ornament. I think this is my only New Year’s ornament, and a fine one it is, a gift from my sister Xena and brother-in-law John. Just look at the beautiful detail on the back.

Happy New Year 2008 penguin

Acquired: March 2008, gift from Xena and John, my sister and brother-in-law

Number: 0452

Size: 4 inches tall

Former key ring

This little plush penguin came to me from Germany thanks to my friends Tim and Nancy Anderson, who bought it on a trip to Berlin. It has a label that calls it a “Button in ear” (Knopf in Ohr) animal. Penguins have no ears, so this one’s label is buttoned to a wing. There was a key ring, which I removed. I was in Berlin later on for about 24 hours and didn’t have any luck finding a penguin ornament. I found a toy shop that made and sold wooden figurines. They had penguins. They had ornaments. Just no penguin ornaments. I also went to the zoo thinking there might be souvenir shops nearby. No such luck. I didn’t actually go in the zoo because it was late in the day, but I think there was a gift shop inside. In all this futile search, I saw a lot of Berlin during my short stay. I’d like to go back and try again.

Steiff “Button in Ear” plush penguin with brownish beak and feet

Acquired: January 24, 2007, gift from Tim and Nancy Anderson

Number: 0356

Size: 4 inches tall