A night at the opera

This tiny ornament is a beauty, but wait ‘til you hear this: it’s made of glue — molded and hardened Elmer’s glue! He looks like he’s headed for a big night out, maybe to the opera, in his black tails with a brilliantly colored bouquet of roses tucked under his wing. I was in Santa Fe last summer to see La Traviata and while I was there I found the ornament at Susan’s, one of my favorite Christmas shops. The opera was fantastic, but even better was finding out by surprise that my good friend Barb, who I hadn’t seen in years, was part of our group. It's good to know that even after a long separation, friends stick together, like glue.

Small dried glue penguin with roses

Acquired: August 16, 2009, Susan’s Christmas Shop, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Number: 700

Price: $20

Size: about 1.75 inches tall

(I have to mention this: my spell checker wants me to replace Traviata with Travolta.)

Southwest style

A Jemez pueblo ceramic penguin is unusal, but it’s not the only southwestern pueblo penguin I own, although it is the only Christmas tree ornament of its kind in my collection. My parents gave me a beautiful ceramic penguin figurine, from Isleta pueblo. It’s about 6 inches tall, and it’s one of the many penguin objects on display at my home year-round.

The tree ornament came from Susan’s Christmas Shop near the plaza in Santa Fe sometime in the 1990s, I think. The artist from Jemez Pueblo in New Mexico signed the ceramic penguin on the bottom: “KSG Jemez NM.”

I was in Susan’s again in the summer of 2009 and saw similar examples, but decided not to add any more to the collection for now. I didn’t leave the store empty handed though. Stay tuned for more about Susan’s Christmas shop in future posts.

Acquired: 1990s, Susan’s Christmas Shop, Santa Fe, N.M.

Number: 0153

Size: about 2.5 inches tall