Let’s celebrate

How about a set of penguins in blue polka dot top hats to help celebrate on New Year’s Eve? Clip-on ornaments are cool, but you don’t see very many of them and almost never penguins. I have one other clip-on penguin and it was nice to find this set at Target. I had a little mishap after I took this picture and broke the hat on one of them. I saved the pieces, however, and might be able to glue it back together. If not, well, I still have three more.

Glass clip-ons with blue top hats

Acquired: November 21, 2011, Target, Stroudsburg, Pa.

Number: 0988 0989 0990 0991

Size: 2.5 inches tall

Price: $9.50/box (originally $10)

Eight trees a twinkling

All the trees were up and lit by Christmas Eve, but I didn't quite finish the big tree until the day after with help from my sister and her family who came to visit. It was a busy holiday week ending with a trip to New York with visiting friends from Brazil. Somewhere in all the excitement I managed to pick up a bug that kept me in bed all day yesterday. So, this post is a little late, but as long as we're still counting the twelve days of Christmas, I figure I'm still beating the deadline. And here they are, all my penguin trees.
The big tree, above, has about 300 ornaments, not counting the penguin lights.

I like how the candy cane tree in the front bedroom turned out. All the penguin ornaments have candy canes.

The wood ornament tree moved into my bedroom this year.

The window tree and the two front windows hold all the stuffed ornaments.

It's the first year I was able to do an all glass tree in the living room.

The blue tree stands guard in the tv room.

The mini tree is the centerpiece on my dining room table.

The tree at the Electric City Trolley Museum will be moving home after New Year's Day.

Head set

This set of penguins came in a box. I thought the bumps on the side were stubby wings, but after I unpacked them, I realized they were glittery, color-coordinated earmuffs.

Pink, green and blue flat, round, snow-filled glass with glittery earmuffs

Acquired: November 21, 2011, Target, Stroudsburg, Pa.

Number: 0985 0986 0987

Size: 4.5 inches tall

Price: $7.60/box of 3
(originally $8)

Candy cane tree

I finished the candy cane penguin tree tonight and I like it a lot. All the penguin ornaments, about 75 total, have candy canes. I used the skinny tree that was at the Trolley Museum last year. It fits much better than the tree I had in the front bedroom last year. I added a spiral of red lights to the white lights already on the tree and finished it off with a red and white garland and traditional candy canes. Sweet.

Bullseye

Target came through again this year with a number of nice penguin ornaments. You already know that I crossed the 1,000 mark, thanks to Target, and now you get to see the other ornaments that led to the big milestone. First up, a set of beautiful blue and silver glass penguins. Yeah, blue. Target seems to always have blue penguins and often multiples and these are a nice addition to the blue tree.

Silver, turquoise and blue glass penguins, glittery white bellies

Acquired: November 21, 2011, Target, Stroudsburg, Pa.

Number: 0982 0983 0984

Size: 4 inches all

Price: $9.50/box or three (originally $10)

Tiny trimmings

What a bargain? It was less than 50 cents each for this set of four little penguin ornaments. The two on the right are identical, but the other two have different colored hats and scarves. Love those dangling feet. Look how little they are compared to the mini light bulbs behind them.

Four Holiday Time mini penguins with dangling feet and candy canes

Acquired: November 19, 2011, Walmart, Mount Pocono, Pa.

Number: 0978 0979 0980 0981

Size: 3.25 inches tall

Price: $1.97/set of 4

Extra! Extra!

My exceptional ex-colleagues made my day several times yesterday, my last day at The New York Times. Look! My penguin tree at the Electric City Trolley Museum made it on the farewell fake front page they gave me. Click here for more pics and more penguins.

Who’s snatching all the penguins in the Poconos?

The Corningware store at the nearby outlet center is a regular stop in my annual hunt for penguin ornaments. They always seem to have a few good penguins, not to mention a lot of other tempting gewgaws and gadgets for the holidays. I’m glad I checked in early to get this set of four. There were only a few penguins left on the tree after I picked it clean and not enough to make a complete set like this one. “You probably have more of these,” I said to the clerk. “No,” she said.  “That’s probably all we’ll get.” Selling out of penguins so early? It was the same story at my Target store. There must be somebody out here besides me grabbing them up.

Four penguins with green and red striped hats

Acquired: November 14, 2011, Corningware Corelle store, The Crossings Premium Outlet, Tannersville, Pa.

Number: 0974 0975 0976 0977

Size: 3 to 3.5 inches tall

Price: $4.99 each

Wait for us!

The little penguin-powered handcar is the last part of a set that Hallmark introduced in stages this year. The other four pieces have Santa in the engine, an elf in the coal car, a reindeer passenger and a snowman in the caboose. All four of them hook together to form a train, but the penguins straggle behind separately. I only wanted the penguin, of course, so somebody out there isn’t going to be able to complete the full set. Sorry.

Hallmark Keepsake “Penguin Power” part of “Santa’s Holiday Train,” Kristin Gaughran and Ken Crow, artists

Acquired: November 4, 2011, Jill’s Hallmark, Brodheadsville, Pa.

Number: 0971

Size: 1.75 inches wide, 1.5 inches tall

Price: $9.95

Flap happy

These two penguins are flapping their wings and laughing out loud. Being encased in a big snowball must be a penguin’s idea of a good time. These ornaments came with a variety of different messages, but just the two designs, so I just took the two with the most generic greetings.

Penguin snowballs “Seasons Greetings” red hat and scarf, “Holiday Wishes” green hat and scarf

Acquired: November 4, 2011, Jill’s Hallmark, Brodheadsville, Pa.

Number: 0969 0970

Size: 3.5 inches tall

Price: $4.99 each 

Hallmark bonus

I like this ornament a lot. It’s another one of the non-Keepsake ornaments I found at a nearby Hallmark store. A snow globe, candy canes, skates, bright Christmas colors, nifty design — what more could one ask for in a tree ornament. Oh, yeah, a penguin.

Flat glass snow globe with penguin on candy cane skates

Acquired: November 4, 2011, Jill’s Hallmark, Brodheadsville, Pa.

Number: 0968

Size: 5.25 inches tall

Price: $6.95

Messy messages

The Hallmark stores devote an entire section to their Keepsake ornaments, but they often have others scattered around like this one. It’s a green sled and it was available with different messages like “Our First Christmas” or “My Favorite Uncle.” All the messages were smeared and messy, but this one seemed to be the most appropriate one for me and also the easiest one to read.

Giftcrafts green sled “With Love at Christmas”

Acquired: November 4, 2011, Jill’s Hallmark, Brodheadsville, Pa.

Number: 0967

Size: 2.25 inches tall

Price: $2.99

More trees

The big tree is finished. So is the little tree. Well, the little tree still needs some work, but it’s set up. This year, the big tree is all glass ornaments. I didn’t count, but I think it's somewhere around 200 penguins. I used silver glass beads and white glittery snowflakes as accents. Stylish green and red striped candy canes are the finishing touch.

The little tree is a rotating metal frame that I bought at Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland in Frankenmuth, Mich. It holds 76 tiny ornaments and it even has miniature candy canes. Right now, the ornaments are hung with different kinds or string or hooks and I need to make them uniform. It doesn’t seem to photograph well, but after I clean it up, I’ll reshoot it.

I still have a lot of ornaments ready to go on the picture window tree downstairs and two upstairs trees. I’m afraid I have enough for an additional tree beyond that, but I’m not sure where I can put it.

When blogs collide

The skating penguin on this ornament seems to be making air quotes with its wings. I’ll have to send this to “the ‘blog’ of ‘unnecessary’ quotation marks,” one of my favorite stops online. I don’t expect Bethany to use it, but she might get a kick out of it. I bought this ornament exactly a year after I bought a very similar ornament, also at Target.

Be Merry big, green flattish disc with skating penguin, red scarf, green glittery earmuffs

Acquired: November 21, 2011, Target, Stroudsburg, Pa.

Number: 0998

Size: 4.5 inches in diameter

Price: $2

Festival of Trees 2011

Marge, Charlie, Evan and I went to the opening of the 2011 Festival of Trees at the Electric City Trolley Museum in Scranton. The Babazes were a big help again this year, sponsoring the entry through Mountain Antiques, and selecting penguins for the tree as we unpacked the entire collection one evening. It was a good time, with good friends, good food, good drink, good music and more than 30 Christmas trees. They will be on display through December 31 for any of you who happen to be the area. The annual event benefits Toys for Tots and the trolley museum. Click here for more pictures on my Facebook album. 

More blue

Here’s another blue ornament, a very nice one, for the blue penguin tree, my favorite. And I found it in the clearance section at Bronner’s. I put it near the top of the tree to give it good display. The blue penguins have almost outgrown the little tree I use for them. The trouble is that my bigger trees have white lights attached and the blue tree needs blue lights, of course. If I can make a new trunk for the Bonnie Loch tree, I might bring it out of retirement next year. This is the last of the Bronner’s bunch, 40 ornaments in all, counting the one that I broke while unpacking them all.

Roly poly blue glittery penguin with white front, orange feet, beak and earmuffs, beady eyes and belly buttons

Acquired: September 23, 2011, Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland, Frankenmuth, Mich.

Number: 0966

Size: 3 inches tall

Price: $2.98 (originally $4.99)

Frostbite?

I don’t know what happened to this penguin’s toes or when it happened, but it looks like both feet are broken. I never noticed anything wrong until I saw the photo blown up. These glass ornaments have a tendency to shatter spontaneously, I think from the pressure built up in the glass when it’s blown into shape. Maybe it was broken when I bought it and didn’t notice because it’s so small. Either way, it’s not broken enough to leave it off the tree this year. This ornament is involved in another mystery. I don’t know how much I paid for it. There was a gigantic receipt from Bronner’s with all 40 ornaments and several other Christmas things I bought. I have lots of other receipts from the same trip, because I had to file a business expense report, but I don’t know what happened to the one from Bronner’s.

Little shiny black glass penguin with white glittery belly

Acquired: September 23, 2011, Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland, Frankenmuth, Mich.

Number: 0965

Size: 2.25 inches tall

Price: unknown

Back to Bronner’s

I had to take a break from the Bronner’s ornaments for news on this year’s trees the last couple of posts. Three more to go and we’ll be done with the Christmas Wonderland haul. This penguin’s puffed-up profile and goofy expression give him a whole lot of personality. I love how the wings look like they’re poised to start him waddling his way across the Antarctic snow and ice.

Bulbous black glass penguin with white glittery belly and blown glass wings

Acquired: September 23, 2011, Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland, Frankenmuth, Mich.

Number: 0964

Size: 3.25 inches tall

Price: $8.99

Blooooooo!

I was bushed after setting up the penguin tree at the Electric City Trolley Museum on Sunday. But leaning back in my recliner, I couldn’t ignore the bare tree standing next to me and the blue penguin ornaments scattered on the floor below it. So after a short rest, I decided to get a start at least. Before I knew it, the blue penguin tree was done. That’s two trees in two counties in less than 12 hours. Bam! The tree needs something on top, but it’s nothing but blue the rest of the way to the floor. New this year are the glittery blue icicles that I bought at Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland.

By coincidence, a lot of my Christmas penguin tabletop decorations have blue in them, so they fit right in nearby on the new cocktail table.

Penguins at an exhibition

I was beginning to think I wouldn’t be able to finish a tree in time for the Festival of Trees at the Electric City Trolley Museum in Scranton. I was late getting entry information, I had a lot of other things going on, and this year’s theme — The Art of the Tree — was a challenge for My Penguin Tree. I got up early this morning, finished cutting out picture frames on heavy card stock and took everything up to the trolley museum in the afternoon. Just as I was taking these pictures, the docent showed up to tell me the museum was closing. The show opens Friday, the 9^th, and runs through New Year’s Eve. Check it out if you find yourself near Scranton.

Oddballs

These ornaments didn’t come in a set, but they were in neighboring bins at Bronner’s. I think it was the section of ornaments that you could have personalized free of charge.

Three glass balls, multiple penguins, face and red Santa hat

Acquired: September 23, 2011, Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland, Frankenmuth, Mich.

Number: 0961 0962 0963

Size: 3 inches in diameter

Price: $8.99 each

What’s your favorite?

When people find out how many penguin ornaments I have, they often ask me which is my favorite. There’s no way to answer, because there are so many and they are all different. Now that I’ve reached the one thousand mark, I should probably try to come up with a top ten list and force myself to rank them in order. This ornament might not make the final cut, but it would certainly be in the running. It has a unique shape, a nice penguin with traditional Christmas tree and Santa hat, and the finishing touch of dangling crystals.

Do you have a favorite? Cast your vote in a comment.

3D clear glass snowflake, penguin with tree, crystal pendant

Acquired: September 23, 2011, Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland, Frankenmuth, Mich.

Number: 0960

Size: 7.5 inches tall

Price: $9.99

Belly full of winter

There’s a lot you could say about this penguin in its starched green scarf with painted stripes. But hands down, the ornament’s distinguishing feature is the wintry scene on its clear, snow-filled belly. Is that a pagoda? A tall, skinny house? I just don’t know.

Hollow, snow-filled, black glittery body with pagoda-like building on front

Acquired: September 23, 2011, Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland, Frankenmuth, Mich.

Number: 0959

Size: 4.5 inches tall

Price: $9.99

Small wonder

The penguins came in all sizes at Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland. You can get an idea how tiny this ornament is by looking at how big its hanging loop seems.

Tiny glass glittery penguin

Acquired: September 23, 2011, Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland, Frankenmuth, Mich.

Number: 0958

Size: 2.25 inches tall

Price: $4.99

Happy feet too

Here’s a penguin that’s ready to dance its way into the holiday season with wings stretched out for balance and right foot taking that first step. I remember it took some time trying to choose this one with everything just right from all the others like it.

Glittery, dancing glass penguin with attached outstretched arms

Acquired: September 23, 2011, Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland, Frankenmuth, Mich.

Number: 0957

Size: 3 inches tall

Price: $17.99

Lost and found

Before I post each ornament on the blog, I put all its information on an index card. It’s the ultimate backup system and the only place the information exists between buying ornaments and recording them on the blog. So I had a little panic tonight when I couldn’t find my mini-pack of cards for this year’s new ornaments. About half of them are already posted, but another 50 are in limbo. It would have taken days to dig up receipts and tags to reconstruct the missing cards. At the same time, I was missing a turquoise ring that I’ve worn every day for 30 years. It’s a souvenir I bought in Bernalillo, N.M., when I first visited my Uncle Lee and Aunt Lillian who lived nearby. It was Aunt Lillian who taught me the rhyming prayer “St. Anthony, St. Anthony, please come around, something is lost and cannot be found.” So I went to her and him for help and moments later spotted the ring half buried in the carpet in my TV room. Then I found the index cards where they had fallen to the floor through my spiral staircase when I was carrying a pile of things upstairs. I’m still missing the receipt from my shopping spree at Bronner’s, where I found today’s ornament in the bargain area. Two out of three is an excellent record however, so thank you, Aunt Lillian, and thank you, St. Anthony.

Dressed up glass couple in red top hat, green vest and black jacket, and pink hat and necklace

Acquired: September 23, 2011, Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland, Frankenmuth, Mich.

Number: 0956

Size: 4.5 inches tall

Price: $4.98 (originally $7.99)

What a catch

If this had been the only ornament I found at Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland, it would have made the trip worthwhile. I think that’s all I have to say.

Precious Moments porcelain bisque “Catch the Spirit of Christmas” 2011 penguin in pink hat fishing for present with candy cane pole

Acquired: September 23, 2011, Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland, Frankenmuth, Mich.

Number: 0954

Size: 3 inches tall

Price: $22.50

A dash of flash

Looks like another penguin making a snowman, but this globe flashes with a red light when it’s switched on and it comes with a built in holiday message.

Stony Creek Seasons Greetings tall, red-flashing globe with little penguin, snowman and tree

Acquired: September 23, 2011, Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland, Frankenmuth, Mich.

Number: 0953

Size: 3 inches tall

Price: $8.99

A thousand penguins

Here they are, penguin ornaments No. 999 and No. 1000. I don’t know which one is which, and I don’t care, because it would be impossible to pick one over the other.  I almost reached the big milestone a few days ago when I saw these very ornaments on a charity tree at my local Target store. I even asked the staff if they had any more for sale, but we couldn’t find any. So today I stopped in another Target on my way to the Peace Candle lighting in Easton, Pa., where there was a bin full of them.

Two plastic ball heads with top hats and bow ties
Acquired: November 25, 2011, Target, Lower Nazareth, Pa.

Number: 0999 1000

Size: 4 inches tall

Price: $2 each

Crazy for candy canes

I’m almost certain I have enough penguins with candy canes to put together a themed tree around them and these three will stand out from the rest. Even if the low number shown in my blog index is correct, I should have enough other candy and sweets ornaments to fill out the tree. I’ll have a blue tree again this year and a wooden tree. Maybe I’ll redo the winter sports tree from last year’s Festival of Trees. A sweet tree would be . . . well . . . sweet. I’ve already stocked up on candy canes for all the trees, including blue ones for the blue tree. The others have traditional red stripes, red and green stripes, rainbow stripes and stripes that kind of look like they belong on a necktie. I still need a box of those yummy chocolate mint canes that Hershey makes for the wood tree.

Blossom Bucket rustic candy cane trio

Acquired: September 23, 2011, Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland, Frankenmuth, Mich.

Number: 0950 0951 0952

Size: 2.5 to 3.5 inches tall and wide

Price: $4.99 each

Small things, nice package

Nice things come in small packages, but this time it works the other way around too. I like the package on this set of penguins almost as much as the tiny glass ornaments. I don’t know how they attached the little penguins on the card however, because it was very difficult to get them off. I was afraid I might crush them if I pulled to hard. Although the set includes six penguins, there are only three designs: two with Christmas trees (top and bottom middle), two with candy canes (middle right and bottom left) and two with what looks like a pickle.

Krebs International set of six glass ornaments

Acquired: September 23, 2011, Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland, Frankenmuth, Mich.

Number: 00944 0945 0946 0947 0948 0949

Size: 1.75 inches tall

Price: $8.99/set