International set

These four Santa penguins came from two different places. One you can see is from Montreal and the fantastic Noël Eternel store. The other three I found in Christmas Rocks, another excellent Christmas store, when I was in Houston later the same year. Each of these glass ornaments is unique, but it seems like there are three basic poses. The Montreal penguin and the top penguin are the same style, but you can see small differences in the hat and in the yellow breast feathers. I’m a little worried that the inscription on the Montreal ornament is rubbing off, but at least it will always be here on My Penguin Tree.

Montreal glass penguin with Santa hat

Acquired: April 19, 2008, Noël Eternel, Montreal, PQ

Number: 0460

Size: 3 inches tall

Price: 10.99 $CAN

Three glass penguins with Santa hats

Acquired: Sept. 27, 2008, Christmas Rocks, Houston, Texas

Number: 0505 0506 0507

Size: 3 inches tall

Price: $7.25 each

Twice as nice

These two look good enough to eat. So good, in fact, that I bought two of them on separate occasions. I tried to convince myself that the second one was colored differently, but they are identical. The first one came from Williamsburg, Va., where I had made a detour on a driving trip from New Jersey to Florida. It was around Easter and the traffic on I-95 was bumper to bumper from Washington, D.C., to Daytona Beach, Fla., so I decided to stop for the night, and then take a longer slower route south the next day. My intention was to see historic Williamsburg, then head to Kitty Hawk, N.C., to visit the Century of Flight exhibit at the Wright Brothers National Monument. Instead I spent most of the day in three Christmas shops. By the time I got back to I-95, it was late and there were no motel rooms available, so I slept in my car at a rest area in South Carolina along with a lot of other drivers who were in the same predicament. It wasn’t so bad. That night I went to sleep in the driver’s seat with visions of Sugar Plum Penguins dancing in my head.

Sugary glass penguins with candy colored accents

Acquired: 1. April 3, 2004, Bassett’s Christmas Shop, Williamsburg, Va.

2. Sept. 28, 2008, Christmas Rocks, Houston, Texas

Number: 0234 0497

Size: about 2.5 inches tall

Price: $6.50, $5.75 

Painted pewter

The German tradition of painted pewter ornaments has been kept alive at Wilhelm Schneizer Pewter since 1796. The metal is mostly flat in slight bas relief, but it looks fully three dimensional thanks to the detail on the penguin, his star-topped tree, the sled full of Christmas presents tied with wide ribbon bows and the basket of yummy looking fish balanced on top.

It came from Christmas Rocks in Houston, when I was in town to finish off another collection of mine. The Houston Astros were the last stop on my tour of all the Major League Baseball stadiums. My first was in Oakland in the summer of 1978, just a few months before I got my first penguin tree ornaments. There’s more to tell about the trip to Houston, but I left Christmas Rocks with a big box full of neatly packed ornaments, so there will be plenty of opportunities to tell you more.

Wilhelm Schneizer painted pewter ornament, Diessen, Germany

Acquired: Sept. 27, 2008, Christmas Rocks, Houston, Texas

Number: 509

Price: $23

Size: about 2 inches tall, 2.25 inches long