Woodwork

Before leaving Christkindlmarkt in Bethlehem, I found a couple more penguins. The woman at the booth was meticulously personalizing a couple of other ornaments for another customer when I brought mine to the counter. She seemed almost relieved that I didn’t need an inscription. I was tempted though, because she was doing a very good job. It’s possible that I have the name of the shop wrong, but I was trying to figure it out after the fact using a sketchy diagram of the fair. I’ll probably go back next year and try to double check.

Two flat, painted wood penguins with blue hat and scarf and red hat and scarf

Acquired: Dec. 18, 2012, Wild Duck Pottery, Christkindlmarkt, Bethlehem, Pa.

Number: 1023 1024

Size: 5 inches tall

Price: $7 each

Penguin Bay

An impromptu day trip to the Finger Lakes was full of surprises, not the least of which finding out that I live close enough to make it a day trip. Another was finding a winery called Penguin Bay. They had a lot of penguin items in their shop and good wines with names like Humboldt Red. I bought one Christmas tree ornament, this simple balsa wood cutout with a red Penguin Bay ribbon loop. They had another ornament that I decided to skip. It was a penguin cookie cutter with a black ribbon loop. Hmmm. I guess I found out where I draw the line.

This is the last of my ornaments, well, until I find some new penguins. I think it’s time for a little break anyway, but stay tuned for more from My Penguin Tree down the road.

Wood Penguin Bay Vineyards ornament

Acquired: March 2011

Number: 913

Size: 3.5 inches tall

Price: $1

Double header

What are the odds I would find back-to-back baseball penguin ornaments? The number on yesterday's penguin and this one are two apart, but that's only because I bought another ornament when I was in Cooperstown. This wooden Dad penguin came from an antique store in Jim Thorpe, Pa. I didn't write down the name of the store, but I think I can find it the next time I go  for a visit. The town named for the famous Olympic athlete and baseball player is about 40 minutes from where I live.

Wood baseball player Dad
Acquired: April 21, 2010, Jim Thorpe, Pa.
Number: 0777
Size: 3 inches tall
Price: $3

Batter up

I like this ornament because it came from Cooperstown, N.Y., home of the Baseball Hall of Fame. I also like it because it’s a penguin painted on a tiny wooden baseball bat. They also had Santa and, I think, snowman bats, but I only needed the penguin, of course.

Handpainted wooden bat

Acquired: May 15, 2010, Christmas Around the Corner, Cooperstown, N.Y.

Number: 0775

Size: 6 inches tall

Price: $12.99

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

Penguin summer: Baseball Hall of Fame

After Mystic we drove to Plymouth, Mass and drove through New Hampshire and Vermont on our way to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.  We spent a good part of the day in the museum, but we also had to stop at Christmas Around the Corner to see if they had any penguins. In addition to the tinsel-scarf set posted earlier this month, there was the clown-like sliding penguin at the top of the picture. The other two came about a week later at the end of the trip.

Seasons of Cannon Falls clown-like penguin sliding on red and white striped belly with gift on back

Acquired: July 23, 2009, Christmas Around the Corner, Cooperstown, N.Y.

Number: 0666

Size: 4.25 inches long

Price: $9.99

Seasons of Cannon Falls clown-like penguin with blue and white striped belly with candy cane strapped on back and penguin with pink and white belly with a bucket of snowballs

Acquired: July 29, 2009, Christmas Spirit, Rehoboth Beach, Del.

Number: 0688 0689

Size: 5.5 and 5 inches tall

Price: $8 each

An old friend

Maybe my favorite find at Käthe Wohlfahrt’s in Rothenburg ob der Tauber is the wood pullstring penguin on the right. When I saw it at the store I recognized an old friend that I had bought about 25 years before at the United Nations gift shop in New York. This might be the only time I intentionally bought a duplicate of an ornament that I already owned. Later that year, when I began to unpack the ornaments and set up the tree, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the new pullstring ornament was different in a number of ways. Despite the orange feet and some of the painted details, I still think of the new penguin as a duplicate of the old one.

Famo wood pullstring penguin, made in Austria

Acquired: 1980s, United Nations gift shop, New York

Number: 0039

Size: 5.25 inches tall

Wood pullstring penguin

Acquired: June 30, 2009, Käthe Wohlfart, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany

Number: 0626

Size: 5.25 inches tall

Price: 12.95 euros

Old World charm

Sometimes the penguins find me. On a side trip to Bavaria from Prague a couple of years ago, I found myself on the way to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a restored walled medieval city that attracts tourists from around the world. After booking a hotel online, I did a search for Christmas shops and came across Käthe Wohlfahrt’s, a legendary store that specializes in traditional German ornaments. It turned out to be next door to the hotel. Käthe Wohlfahrt is more than a Christmas shop. It’s like a Christmas museum where you can shop as you admire the exhibits. One of their trademarks seems to b a penguin pulling a gift-laden sled carrying a Christmas tree, of which I have several examples.

Acquired: June 30, 2009, Käthe Wohlfahrt, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany

Glass sled puller

Number: 0639

Size: 3.5 inches tall

Price: 16.50 Euros

Wood sled pullers

Number: 0628 0629 0630

Size: 2.75 inches tall

Price: 11.95 Euros each (10.95 for blue ornament)

Holiday rush

It was just a few days before Christmas and I had one or two gifts to buy. I knew I could find what I needed at the mall, but I wasn’t looking forward to traffic and hordes of eleventh-hour shoppers. The weather was a wintry mess, but I was happy to find out that traffic was light. And when I got to the mall in Allentown, I parked easily and found the gifts I needed right away. It gave me time to check out the Christmas department in JC Penney, where I found these nice, brightly colored ornaments. The place was pretty much picked over by this time, but I also picked up a penguin stocking hanger and a tree bag (for storage). I also spotted a penguin tree skirt on a display tree, but I couldn’t find anyone to help me with it. I got in line to buy my things and asked the season-weary clerk if I could buy the display skirt. “Well, uh, sure,” she said. Should I help myself to it? “Uh, yeah. Next in line!” On the way back to take the skirt off the display tree I noticed some decorations around the corner from the rest of the Christmas department, including more of the penguin skirt I wanted. I waited in line again to pay for the skirt and the clerk was happy and surprised to see that I had found it. At last, I was done, and headed for my car. Halfway down the mall, I remembered I had left a cup of coffee on a shelf at Penney’s, so I turned around and went back for it. Then I headed for the car again and was almost out of the mall when I dropped the bag with my ornaments. An ugly crashing sound told me that it would not be pretty. The clear glass ornament, above, was crushed to bits and the stocking holder was broken beyond repair. Back to Penney’s I went, where I was lucky to find replacements for my broken purchases. I had to wait in line (for the third time) and told the clerk my tale of woe. Then the best thing happened: she gave me credit for my broken goods, bringing the story to a happy end.

All acquired Dec. 21, 2008, JC Penney, Lehigh Valley Mall, Whitehall, Pa.

Flattish, felt covered ceramic penguin with purple and pink striped top hat, pink scarf, and carrying gifts

Number: 0596

Size: 5 inches tall

Price: $3.99 (60 percent off, originally $9.99)

Wood penguin head in Santa hat over a long pink and green, curly-toed stocking with a blue boa and dangling jingle bells

Number: 0597

Size: 8 inches tall

Price: $3.19 (60 percent off, originally $7.99)

Painted penguin with a pink and white striped stocking cap on a flat glass bulb filled with glittery snow

Number: 0598

Size: 4 inches diameter

Christmas creep

Here are some early birds that I found a couple of months before Christmas. It wasn’t even Halloween yet and the stores already had Christmas decorations for sale. I was thinking that Christmas items began to show up early this year, but it looks like the same thing was happening a couple of years ago. I think the painted sled is one of my favorites.

Christmas Morning/Dennis East skating penguins painted on a sled

Acquired: October 12, 2008, Corningware factory store, The Crossings, Tannersville, Pa.

Number: 0524

Size: 5.5 inches tall

Price: $2.99

Christmas Morning/Dennis East trio with glittery scarves and hats, and gold feet and beaks

Acquired: October 12, 2008, Corningware factory store, The Crossings, Tannersville, Pa.

Number: 0525 0526 0527

Size: 3.75 inches tall

Price: $2.99 each

Present dangler

How cute is this wooden penguin with his feet dangling by a hook and a tiny present hanging from the bottom. Its wings are tacked on so they can be moved gently. The crowning touch is the tilted green and red stocking cap.

Gray wooden penguin with dangling feet and gift

Acquired: June 7, 2008, Christmas Factory, Marshall’s Creek, Pa.

Number: 0481

Size: 5 inches tall

Price: $2.99 (originally $4.99)

Light blue special

I don’t remember if there were other animals available, but I was happy to find this Martha Stewart ornament at Kmart. I also don’t remember if it was the same day I bought a set of Martha Stewart white plastic mixing bowls with lids the same light blue color as the penguin. This reminds me that I need to check the big stores to see if they are sneaking in the Christmas decorations. I was in a Duane Reade drug store the other day where they already have some of the Christmas stuff out.

Martha Stewart blue and glittery white wood cutout penguin

Acquired: Dec. 31, 2007, Kmart, Mount Pocono, Pa.

Number: 0447

Size: five inches tall

Price: $1.49 (50 percent off)

Coincidence

It’s nice that these two ornaments follow yesterday’s post. All three probably should have been posted together, but I didn’t realize that until now. I originally had another ornament posted for today, but found out later that I had already posted that penguin in April. (I knew it seemed familiar.) That left a hole in the blog and these two were next up, so here are two more wooden penguin ornaments by the same team that made yesterday’s dangly footed entry. These two I bought about a week later at a different place. I call the one with the Santa hat “Maya” because its static seated pose reminds me of an ancient Mayan sculpture. The tall, slender penguin is one of my favorites because of the beautifully painted holly and bow on its belly.

Erik and Mike carved wood penguin posed like a Mayan statue with red glittery Santa hat, made in Bali, Indonesia

Acquired: December 14, 2006, Vanderbilt Holiday Market, Grand Central Terminal, New York

Number: 354

Size: 3.5 inches tall

Price: $10.00

Erik and Mike elegantly carved wood penguin with painted garland vest

Acquired: December 14, 2006, Vanderbilt Holiday Market, Grand Central Terminal, New York

Number: 355

Size: 4 inches tall

Price: $10.00

Footloose

This is a nifty wooden penguin with a hand carved look. Its wings are nailed on and have limited movement. The feet dangle freely from notches in the penguin’s body.

Erik and Mike wooden penguin with dangling feet, made in Bali, Indonesia

Acquired: December 2006, Tabwa, Greenwich Avenue, New York

Number: 0350

Size: 4.5 inches tall

Price: $8.50 

J oy

A stuffed penguin on a wooden block with a metal sled hanging on its shoulder and a sprig of holly on the tip of its wing: put it all together and it spells J-O-Y. This ornament represents the point at which I started keeping track of when I got a new one, where I got it, who gave it to me, etc. This one came from Noël Eternel in Montreal, one of my favorite Christmas shops. Although I started keeping better records with this ornament, I forgot to measure it before packing it after last Christmas, and I didn’t write down the exact date I bought it.

Stuffed penguin with sled on a child’s block that spells joy

Acquired: September 2002, Noël Eternel, Montreal, PQ

Number: 0195

Whole lot of heart

One more from the Macy’s shopping spree that I numbered incorrectly. It looks very different from the other wooden penguins and has a unique feature: a heart and star dangling from its foot on a string. This one makes it easy to feel happy.

Wooden heart mobile

Acquired: 1980s

Number: 0183

Size: about 5 inches top to bottom

Big red bow

Here’s another one of the Macy’s wooden ornaments that I should have numbered closer to the other ones. The penguin is large than most of those other penguins, but not as large as the one carrying a Christmas tree that I posted on June 1.

Wooden penguin holding a big red ribbon bow

Acquired: 1980s

Number: 0182

Size: about 3 inches tall

Dramatic duo

Here’s an exciting pair of penguins. One seems to be midway through a major nosedive while the other is either running and screaming to the rescue or running for its life. There’s a lot of nice detail on these penguins, from their rosy cheeks to their awesome feet. I bought them at a store called Be Seated on Greenwich Avenue in New York City. The store was also known as Tabwa for a while, but they always had the same great exotic gifts and textiles. Every year at Christmas time the ornaments came out featuring a broad variety from the animal kingdom. The store is gone now, which is too bad, but I’ve since discovered a Christmas ornament store (all ornaments, all the time) down the street to keep me supplied.

Two wooden penguins, one running and screaming, the other diving

Acquired: 2000, probably December, Be Seated, Greenwich Avenue, New York City

Numbers: 0171, 0172

Size: running, 3 inches tall; diving, 4 inches tall

Pyramid power

That strongman penguin at the top of the pyramid is flexing some pumped up wing muscles, but the true tough guys are the dressed up dudes on the bottom who are holding all the weight. This ornament is one of my favorites, not just because it’s so much fun, but because it was a gift from my Aunt Lillian Truitt in New Mexico. I had just moved west and didn’t have a steady job yet, so I was watching my pennies. I was going to pass on this one, but she insisted that I needed it. She and her family, my cousins, are responsible for a lot of the penguins in the ornament collection and a lot of the other penguins that are all over my house. Aunt Lillian was married to my mother’s brother Lee. They were considerably older than her and moved to New Mexico before I was born, so I hardly knew them for the first half of my life, but we were able to make up for lost time later on. You were always welcome at Aunt Lillian’s house and you never went hungry. The food was always good and there was plenty of it. Grocery shopping with Aunt Lillian was an adventure that usually meant going to one or two supermarkets to get what was “on special” or to get a particular brand, followed by stops at one or two local produce markets for fresh fruits and vegetables. She had a great sense of humor, and she loved the outdoors and everything about New Mexico, from its history to its music to its food. She was one of my favorite relatives and also a great friend.

Wooden penguin pyramid

Acquired: probably November or December 1993, JC Penney, Winrock Mall, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Number: 0169

Big tree

This is another of the wooden ornaments that I bought at Macy’s in the 1980s. He resembles some of those other penguins, but is considerably bigger. It seems like it should be part of a set, but he’s the only one of this kind in the collection.  It’s nicely assembled and painted, but showing signs of wear and tear.

Wooden penguin in a red jacket carrying a big flat Christmas tree

Acquired: 1980s, Macy’s Herald Square, New York City

Number: 158

Size: about 2.5 inches tall