Reduced

I found these miniature versions of Millicent and Thaddeus, a couple of my favorite ornaments, on a leisurely trip to New York City after Christmas. While everyone else went into a coffee shop when we stopped to stretch our legs, I ducked into a gift shop and found a few Christmas bargains. The small picture compares the two Millicents and you can see more about the original ornaments by clicking on the link in the first sentence.

Mini Millicent and Thaddeus by Patience Brewster

Acquired: December 27, 2011, Thistle, Frenchtown, N.J.

Number: 1039 1040

Size: 3.5 inches tall

Price: $19.95 for two (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

Penguin dreams

This is a very nice glass ornament that I bought in Cape May, N.J., last summer. I wish I had more to say about it, other than that it is a beautifully painted ornament. I really like the giant gold bell with its red bow. An interesting thing happened to me this week. I had my first dream about penguin ornaments. All I can remember is that I had a tree set up somewhere and I was having trouble making time to retrieve it.

Small glass ornament with Santa hat holding a big gold bell with red bow

Acquired: August 7, 2010, Westwood Gifts, Cape May, N.J.

Number: 0792

Size: 2.75 inches tall

Price: $2.99

Look familiar?

I should have put these penguins up on Groundhog Day. They’re repeats of some other ornaments that are cut from the same mold, but painted differently and sold under different brand names. They keep popping up. The top one’s distinction is the “Cape May” inscription, which makes it a nice souvenir of my visit there. I bought another one a few months later. Two others have already appeared on the blog last June (No. 208) and November (No. 486). I discovered the similarities when I was getting ready to decorate the trees for Christmas. You can clearly see a birdhouse under the right wing, but I haven’t been able to figure out what’s under the other wing, though it looks like a gift on at least one of the ornaments.

Small glass Cape May penguin with Santa hat and blue scarf

Acquired: August 7, 2010, Westwood Gifts, Cape May, N.J.

Number: 0791

Size: 3.25 inches tall

Price: $2.99

Another small glass penguin with birdhouse

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

Number: 0863

Size: 3.25 inches tall

Price: $4.32 (originally $8)

Fun afoot

A spur of the moment trip to Cape May, N.J., Rehoboth Beach, Del., and St. Michael’s Md., increased the size of my penguin ornament collection substantially. I even passed the 900 milestone. I feel like I rescued these playful penguins, one of which is holding a cookie-like snowflake with the year 2008 on it. The other three are holding a cardinal, a gift and a tree. All of them are wearing strange star-shaped snowshoes. Or are they cookie cutters? Even though the 2008 cookie and the star stompers are different shapes, it makes me wonder.

Set of 4 silver star snowshoe stompers

Acquired: August 7, 2010, Gifts Galore, Cape May, N.J.

Number: 0787 0788 0789 0790

Size:3 inches tall

Price: $7.99 each

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

Kind of the same

Both of these penguins were for sale at Macy’s when I stopped in a few days ago, but I didn’t buy them because I felt like I already had them. It turns out I did have the top one holding an envelope, but not the one with the small tree, so I was half right. Actually I was sort of right about the one with the tree, because I do have a half-size version which I posted in August. Now I wonder if there’s a small version of the one with the envelope.

Glass ornament holding envelope

Acquired: November 16, 2008, Fountains of Wayne, New Jersey

Number: 0568

Size: 4 inches tall

Price: $7.99 (15 percent off)

Medium glass ornament with little tree

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

Number: 0864

Size: 4.5 inches tall
Price: : $7.56 (originally $14)

Penguin with a twist

I don’t know if the asymmetrical shape of this penguin was intentional or the result of a horrible shipping accident, but either way, the lopsided pose gives the ornament an extra bit of character. My notes say it was handcrafted in Poland, so maybe each ornament has its own personality. I bought this ornament on a visit to Fountains of Wayne, a patio furnishings store that turned into a winter wonderland once a year for Christmas. Upstairs you could walk through a free gallery of 3D holiday scenes. I used to ride by Fountains of Wayne on my bus ride to and from work every day, and finally was able to stop in when I was in the neighborhood one day. They didn’t have a lot of penguin ornaments, but there were plenty of other penguin objects and just about any other kind of Christmas decorations that you might want. Sadly, the store is gone now, but at least I was able to get this and a few other penguin ornaments before it closed.

Varsovia fine molded glass ornament

Acquired: November 16, 2008, Fountains of Wayne, New Jersey

Number: 0567

Size: 3.75 inches tall

Price: $14.99 (15 percent discount)

A pair o' peppermint penguins

Sometimes I have a feeling that I might be buying a duplicate ornament, sometimes not. And it doesn’t matter if the two are a week apart or, like these two penguins, a year apart. It’s just impossible for my aging brain to keep track of all 800 plus penguins. One reason I started the blog was to give me access to the collection wherever I might be. We’ll see how it goes as we get closer and closer to Christmas.

Two glass penguins with Santa hats and peppermint-striped scarves

Acquired: November 19, 2007, Macy’s Seminole Town Center, Sanford, Fla.

November 16, 2008, Fountains of Wayne, N.J.

Number: 0405 0569

Size: 4 inches tall

Price: $6 (40 percent off); $7.99 (15 percent off)

Recurring roles

These three penguins, who are building an ice fortress and stocking up on snowy ammunition, seem to show up every year at Hallmark even though they are identified as an official series. I’ve got a some of the others including a miniature set with them sledding (posted last month here), one where they are fishing, another where they are caroling, and a new one from this year hanging their Christmas stockings on a fireplace made of ice blocks. All are created by the Hallmark artist Kristina Kline-Gaughran. Snow Fort Fun is an action ornament. Press a lever and the penguin out front spins as if throwing one of the snowballs.

Snow Fort Fun

Acquired: Dec. 3, 2006, Amanda’s Hallmark, the Commons of Holmdel, N.J.

Number: 0343

Size: 2 inches tall by 3.75 inches long

Price: $15

Chilly Fishing Fun

Acquired: Oct. 5, 2007, Jay’s Hallmark, Port Authority Bus Terminal, New York

Number: 0382

Size: 2.75 inches tall by 2.75 inches wide

Price: $12.50

Subzero Serenade

Acquired: Nov. 30, 2009, Jay’s Hallmark, Port Authority Bus Terminal, New York

Number: 0744

Size: 3.25 inches wide

Price: $12.50

A Fishy Wish

Acquired: July 16, 2010, Jill’s Hallmark, Broadheadsville, Pa.

Number: 0784

Size:2.5 inches tall, 2.75 inches wide

Price: $14.95

On Target

Here’s a nice glass ornament that I found on a trip to Target, which always has penguin ornaments, not to mention penguin plates, penguin towels and a lot of other penguin items for the home. And not just at Christmas. Sometimes I think I should wear blinders when I go to Target to avoid the penguin temptations.

Glass penguin with small Christmas tree, a red, gold and green scarf, a red hood and gold earmuffs

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

Number: 0314

Size: 3.25 inches tall

Price: $2.99

Snowball and Tuxedo

Tuxedo the penguin and Snowball the polar bear have been hanging out for 10 years now in a Hallmark Keepsake ornament series by the artist Joanne Eschrich. I bought No. 4 in the series, called Fancy Footwork, at a store close to where I was living in Middletown, N.J. I don’t think I was aware that it was part of a series then, and I don’t remember seeing any of the others until a couple of weeks ago when Hallmark introduced a number of the new ornaments for 2010. One of the new offerings is a special 10^th anniversary edition of Snowball and Tuxedo, and they also have a regular 10^th-in-a-series rendition of the bipolar pals cutting out snowflakes, paper doll style. I suspect the Hallmark series ornaments get snapped up quickly by collectors and that’s why I don’t have any of the others. I know I could probably find the rest online, but I’d rather see if I can stumble upon them in my travels.

Fancy Footwork, No. 4 in Snowball and Tuxedo Hallmark Keepsake series

Acquired: Dec.21, 2005, Sunray Drugs, Middletown, N.J.

Number: 0277

Size: 3.25 inches tall

Price: $7.95

Ten Terrific Years, Snowball and Tuxedo special edition 2010 Hallmark Keepsake Ornament Premiere

Acquired: July 7, 2010, Jay’s Hallmark, Port Authority Bus Terminal, New York City

Number: 0778

Size: 2.5 inches tall

Price: $9.95

Snowflakes With Style, No. 10 in Snowball and Tuxedo Hallmark Keepsake series

Acquired: July 11, 2010, Jill's Hallmark, Broadheadsville, Pa.

Number: 0783

Size: 2.5 inches tall

Price: $9.95

On target

So, I’m doing a little Christmas shopping at Target and I wonder if there might be a penguin or two in the decorations department. What I find is not one or two, not even four or six. No, instead there is a wall of blue magic, seven sets of blue ornaments in a variety of shapes and materials, all with the same theme: three penguins with skates, gifts or snowballs. I wasn’t able to find complete sets of all them, but I did walk out with 21 new penguin ornaments, counting the little damaged No. 208 posted yesterday and the large glass mitten, No. 207, posted in January.  My favorites are the two worst photographs: the stars, which look good enough to eat, and the ceramic balls. I think I took those two pictures late in the evening as the sun was setting and casting an orange glow in the house.

Target blue penguin series

Acquired: December 2003, Target, Middletown, N.J.

“2003” single ornament

Number: 0209

Metal buckets (missing snowball penguin)

Numbers: 0210 0211

Size: 6.25 inches tall (gift), 4 inches tall (skates)

Hollow ceramic or painted glass stars

Numbers: 0212 0213 0214

Size: 3.5 inches tall

Felt squares

Numbers: 0215 0216 0217

Size: 4 inches tall

Standing ceramic figurines (missing skater)

Numbers: 0218 0219

Plush stuffed penguins

Numbers: 0220 0221 0222

Size: 5 inches tall (snowball), 6 inches tall (gift) 4.75 inches tall (skates)

Styrofoam round bodies (missing skater)

Numbers: 0223 0224

Ceramic ball ornaments

Numbers: 0225 0226 0227

Size: 2.5 inches diameter

Reunited

These two look different sizes in the photo. One is further back, but they’re the same size, and except for the color of their scarves, they’re identical. The white scarf is decorated with glitter and the face paint is slightly different on the two. I bought both ornaments at Macy’s, but not the same store, and not the same year. In fact, I bought them four years apart, the red one in December 2002 at the Eatontown Mall in New Jersey and the white one in a wild shopping spree in Macy’s Herald Square in November 2006. Wait until you hear that story. It’s a doozy. Notice that in these four years, the collection grew by about 128 ornaments. In the four years since then, I’ve added almost 450 more.

Glass penguin with red scarf

Acquired: December 2002, Macy’s Eatontown Mall, New Jersey

Number: 204

Size: 4 inches tall

Glass penguin with white glittery scarf, made in Czech Republic

Acquired: November 28, 2006, Macy’s Herald Square, New York

Number: 333

Size: 4 inches tall

Price: $7.20 (40 percent off)

Job to do

This penguin is off on a mission, but I’m not sure what he’s got to do. Sorry about the dark photo, but if you zoom in, you might be able to make out the tiny shovel, like a garden trowel, in its left wing. Then there’s that little pot by his right foot. Whatever he’s up to — cutting a Christmas tree? tapping a maple? — he’s ready for cold weather with a fantastic looking knit hat. The hat is ceramic, like the rest of the ornament, not yarn.

Ceramic penguin with burgundy knit hat holding a small shovel

Acquired: December 2002, Hazlet Gift Shop, New Jersey

Number: 202

Size: 3.25 inches tall

Beanie babies

When I wrote in “About My Penguin” that everyone gives me penguin ornaments, I forgot to mention my relatives’ and friends’ pets. I bought one of these Ty beanies myself, and got the other one a couple weeks later from Kooki, the loveable Yorkie who lives with my sister Xena and brother-in-law John.

Ty beanie babies

Acquired: December 2002, Hazlet Card Shop, New Jersey, gift from Kooki

Number: 2001, 2005

Size: 4.25 inches tall

First day of summer . . . or winter

It’s the first day of summer for those of us who live in the northern hemisphere, but south of the equator it’s winter. This penguin is not only wearing earmuffs and a scarf to ward off the cold, but also the remnants of an Antarctic snowstorm. It’s possible that this is not a tree ornament, but it seemed only natural to use that wire earmuff band to insert a Christmas tree hanging hook. I feel lucky to have this ornament in the collection, because it was the last one on the shelf when I bought it.

Ceramic penguin with red earmuffs and scarf

Acquired: December 2001, Hazlet Card Shop, Hazlet, N.J.

Number: 193

Size: 3 inches tall

Candy cane holders

Two of my ornaments have holes big enough to slide through, one of them horizontally and the other at an angle. I found one at a card and gift shop near where I lived in New Jersey; the other was a gift from my friend and colleague Grace Wong. I wonder if  there are any other variations in this series. When I bought mine I also bought another ornament that looks similar, but it doesn’t hold a candy cane, and it really isn’t part of the set. Still, it’s close enough that I’ve always grouped these three together. I always put candy canes on my Christmas tree and I wish I had a lot more penguin holders for them.

Angled candy cane holder, label Papel Giftware, Cranbury, N.J.
Acquired: December 2001

Number: 0191

Size: 3 inches tall

Horizontal candy cane holder

Acquired: December 2001, Hazlet Card Shop, Hazlet, N.J. 

Number: 0190

Size: 3 inches tall

Penguin similar to candy cane holders

Acquired: December 2001, Hazlet Card Shop, Hazlet, N.J.

Number: 0189

Size: 2.5 inches tall

Hollow penguin

I probably should have asked for a discount on this ornament because I knew it was broken when I bought it. It’s a nifty metal design that almost looks like it’s made of barbed wire because of those “buttons” on the front. The hollow frame is supposed to be filled with a clear blown glass bulb, which I saw on a similar snowman ornament. Everything had been picked through at Target as it was almost Christmas and this was the only penguin ornament left. I remember seeing shards of glass at the bottom of the display where I found it. Well, it looks fine without the glass, so I didn’t bother to ask for a damage discount at the checkout. It might have already been marked down for clearance anyway. Still, it would have been nice to get an intact penguin, so ever since I’ve tried to hit the stores early while all the sets are complete and the other penguins aren’t in tatters. (This doesn’t stop me from combing the clearance shelves after Christmas to find any penguins, damaged or not, that have been left behind.)

Wire penguin

Acquired: December 2001, Target, Middletown, N.J.

Number: 0188

Size: about 4 inches tall