Monkeying around

These three plush stuffed penguins, with their monkey-like arms and legs, take up a lot of space on a tree, as you can see in the photos I took using my narrow 6-foot tree. I didn’t actually put them on a tree, partly because they’re so big and partly because we used the stuffed penguin ornaments to decorate the front windows at my house last year.

Acquired: May 2009, Christmas Past, New Hope, Pa.

Number: 0622 0623 0624

Size: 13 to 14 inches tall

Price: unknown

Separated at birth

This penguin is the same one that appears on a similar ornament that I had bought a few months before. The ornaments themselves are a little bit different and they are filled with different types of snow, but there’s no denying the look-alike pinked out penguins painted on them. I lost track of exactly when I bought this ornament or how much I paid for it, but I know it was on one of two springtime trips to New Hope.

Festival of trees update: The opening reception Friday was a great event with excellent food, and my penguin tree drew a lot of attention. No prizes, but the winning trees were spectacular. I promise I’ll get some pictures up soon. Today, we finished two of the home trees, and I’ll have pictures of those soon too.

Flat clear glass ball filled snowballs

Acquired: May 2009, Christmas Past, New Hope, Pa.

Number: 0621

Size: 4 inches diameter

Price: unknown

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.)

Jingle bells, jingle bells

It’s Jingle Bell Week on My Penguin Tree. For whatever reason, jingle bells started popping up as a component on the penguin ornaments I was finding during a stretch of time in late 2007. They’re all close enough that I thought I could bunch them together and take care of them in one sweep. These four penguins each have a jingle bell head and a jingle bell body. The two top penguins, that hang as if they were flying, are identical. One of them I bought almost a year later than the other three, and I didn’t realize I was getting a duplicate.

Three jingle bell penguins

Acquired: October 14, 2007, Christmas Past, New Hope, Pa.

Number: 0390 0391 0392

Size: 3 inches tall, {flying) 3.5 inches long

Price: $2.95 each

Flying jingle bell penguin No. 2

Acquired: June 28, 2008, Jim Thorpe, Pa.

Number: 0488

Clowning around

These three penguins look pretty goofy with their long, glittery, colorful hats, but the funniest thing about them might be their huge feet that wiggle when you touch them because they’re attached with springs instead of legs.

Knick Knackeries by Holly Adler set of three clown-like penguins with springy feet, Kurt Alder, N.Y., N.Y., made in China

Acquired: October 14, 2007, Christmas Past, New Hope, Pa.

Number: 0386 0387 0388

Size: 4.5 inches tall

Price: $7.95 each

Fun on the ice

You can tell they’re having a good time by the big grins on their long pointy beaks. The ice fishing penguin looks pretty happy with the big gift-wrapped fish he’s holding.

Kurt Adler pair of skating and fishing penguins

Acquired: October 14, 2007, Christmas Past, New Hope, Pa.

Number: 0384 0385

Size: 5 and 4.5 inches tall

Price: $9.95 each

Huggable

If these two penguins weren’t hugging each other, I might want to hug them, they’re so cute. Those goofy wire feet make it possible to stand this ornament on its own, a feature that comes in handy when you run out of room on your Christmas tree.

Raz Imports chubby hugging pair, made in China

Acquired: October, 14, 2007, Christmas Past, New Hope, Pa.

Number: 0383

Size: 3.25 inches tall by 4.25 inches wide

Price: $7.95

Felt brigade

Here are some sets of felt penguins from different places that are all the creation of Hannah’s Handiworks. The four colorful penguins came from Christmas Cottage in midtown Manhattan. I found the beige set at Christmas Past in New Hope, Pa. The beige penguins have a unique feature. They can be squished or stretched to be different heights. I’d love to see what’s going on inside, some kind of spring mechanism that sticks when you stretch or squash the penguins.

Hannah’s Handiworks felt penguin heads and full-body penguins with red and green knit scarves and hats, made in China

Acquired: July 21, 2007, Christmas Cottage, New York

Numbers: 0358 0359 0360 0361

Size: 8 to 10 inches tall

Price: $9.95 each

Hannah’s Handiworks beige felt stretchy penguins, made in China

Acquired: January or February 2009

Numbers: 0617 0618

Size: 10 inches tall

Price: $4.50 each

Belly blizzard

It’s hard to make out, even when you zoom in, but it almost looks like there’s a snowstorm going on inside this small solid glass penguin’s belly. It’s reminiscent of the cloudy patterns in some of the glass marbles we cherished in childhood. The delicate red scarf is a nice finishing touch. Christmas Past in New Hope, where I bought this ornament, is one of my favorite regular stops when I’m in southeastern Pennsylvania.

Department 56 solid glass penguin with snowy belly and skinny red scarf, made in China

Acquired: October 14, 2007, Christmas Past, New Hope, Pa.

Number: 389

Size: 2.75 inches tall

Price: $7.50