Radko madness

The Christmas Loft in Shelburne, Vt., was winding down from the Christmas season when I visited last month. In fact, it was inventory time and the owner was happy to see these three Christopher Radko ornaments go. “Now I won’t have to count them,” he said. I was glad to help out. By the way, anybody notice they all have snowmen? Yeah, strange.

Christopher Radko Banner Buddies

Acquired: January 20, 2012, Christmas Loft, Shelburne, Vt.

Number: 1052

Size: 4.5 inches tall

Price: $49.99

Christopher Radko Frosty Fellows

Acquired: January 20, 2012, Christmas Loft, Shelburne, Vt.

Number: 1053

Size: 5.75 inches tall

Price: $49.99

Christopher Radko Ice Cube Companions

Acquired: January 20, 2012, Christmas Loft, Shelburne, Vt.

Number: 1054

Size: 7.5 inches tall

Price: $52.99

Double the fun

When I got these ornament as gifts, I was hoping that they weren’t duplicates of some I bought several years ago, but that wasn’t the case. Not that I mind getting duplicate ornaments. The other S’mores ornament I bought was one of several from a baseball trip to Missouri, but the new one is the only one from a good colleague and friend. The other snowman ornament is like one that I found in a drugstore near where I live, but this one came from my sister and brother-in-law who showed up with his parents at one of my retirement celebrations.

Midwest CBK S’mores snowman

Acquired: December 14, 2011

Number: 1018

Size: 2.5 inches tall

Price: gift from colleague, Karen, my last week at work

Snowman on a sled with two penguins in red and blue hats

Acquired: December 14, 2011

Number: 1019

Size: 3.5 inches tall

Price: gift from my sister Xena and brother-in-law John at retirement celebration

A dash of flash

Looks like another penguin making a snowman, but this globe flashes with a red light when it’s switched on and it comes with a built in holiday message.

Stony Creek Seasons Greetings tall, red-flashing globe with little penguin, snowman and tree

Acquired: September 23, 2011, Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland, Frankenmuth, Mich.

Number: 0953

Size: 3 inches tall

Price: $8.99

A Pointer Sisters Christmas

OK, so I like the Pointer Sisters a lot, but I never expected them to show up on a Christmas tree ornament. This little penguin is “so excited” on Christmas Eve that he can’t get the trio’s song out of his head. It’s a good thing the Pointers are on my favorites list, because I have a feeling I’ll be singing along with them on Christmas Eve.

Hallmark Keepsake “I’m So Excited” Magic musical ornament, Bob Kolar, artist

Acquired: July 24, 2011, Jill’s Hallmark, Easton, Pa.

Number: 0921

Size: 3.25 inches tall

Price: $17.95

Last of the Hallmarks . . . almost

I managed to get all of last year’s Hallmark penguin ornaments, I think. This was the last one they released. It matches a stuffed musical decoration that Hallmark offered at a special price if you bought something like three greeting cards. I ended up with a lot of Hallmark ornaments and they were kind of expensive. This year I might try to restrain myself and catch some of the new ornaments on sale after Christmas. I saw an article that said Hallmark is expecting penguins to replace polar bears as the big animal on their cards in 2011. I’m a little worried that it means there will be more penguin ornaments too.

Hallmark Keepsake “We Need a Little Christmas” based on 2010 promotional decoration with penguin and snowman decorating a tree

Acquired: December 13, 2010, Jay’s Hallmark, Port Authority Bus Terminal, New York

Number: 0907

Size: 4 inches tall

Price: $18.95

Buds

Everybody likes the penguin. Hallmark has a series of ornaments with a penguin and polar bear as pals, and here’s No.13 in a series of “Snow Buddies” with a penguin and his snowman friend. I don’t seem to have any of the others in the series, which makes me think it might not always be the same two buddies every year.

Hallmark Keepsake “Snow Buddies,” No. 13 in a series

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

Number: 0785

Size: 2.5 inches tall

Price: $9.95

One more time

For the second day in a row, we have a penguin hanging out with Santa and a snowman, but this time they’re all together on one ornament. There’s a lot going on here. The three Christmas pals are singing karaoke in front of a giant (to them) picture frame and the whole thing is recordable. I could sing a song into it and play it back later. I could also find a photo of my own to go in the frame, but I haven’t decided what that picture might be. Any ideas are welcome. This is one of Hallmark’s “Magic” ornaments. The characters might dance around a little bit, but I’m not sure, because I haven’t tried it out yet. The ornament is one of a bunch I bought during Hallmark’s ornament premiere weekend last summer.

Hallmark Keepsake Magic “North Pole Karaoke” 2009 recordable poto holder , Nello Williams, artist

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

Number: 0781

Size: 3.375 inches tall, 3.75 inches wide

Price: $5 (75 percent off)

Snowboard, Santa and snowman

I went a little crazy last year with the Hallmark ornaments after I found out they have events starting in the summer to release each year’s Keepsake ornaments. I made sure I got to the Hallmark store early so I wouldn’t miss out on any of the penguins, and there were a lot of them. One of the benefits of going ornament shopping in summer was that Jill’s Hallmark had a big discount aisle in addition to the new releases for 2010. This set of ornaments, featuring a snowboarding penguin with a dancing snowman and Santa was marked down. I know, it’s three ornaments, but I only assigned it one number, because there’s only one penguin in the set. I used the penguin on the winter sports tree at the Trolley Museum, but left the snowman and Santa in the box. Next year, I’ll probably find a place where I can hang them together again.

Hallmark “Santa’s Merry Crew”

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

Number: 0780

Size: 1.75 inches tall, 1.5 inches long (penguin)

Price: $3.75 (75 percent off)

Getting ready for Christmas

The penguins have taken over another igloo and are decorating it for Christmas. You can see the other igloo ornaments I’ve posted so far by clicking on the label below. Meanwhile two of their friends are busy building a snowman on a toboggan. You can also search for more snowman ornaments below. I think all the igloos are online now, but I’ve got more snowmen to come.

It's all penguins, mostly Christmas tree ornaments

It’s beginning to look a lot like penguins at my house. Today my friends Charlie, Marge and Jenny Babaz came over to help me sort through my ornaments and separate the ones we’ll use on our Festival of Trees entry. This meant getting a dozen or so tubs out of storage and then unwrapping hundreds of ornaments, one by one. The Babazes were a huge help, though there’s still quite a way to go, and they even brought spaghetti for dinner.

My dining room table before (above) and after (below)

Meanwhile, I’ve caught up on cataloging the new ornaments I’ve acquired since summer. We’re up to 843 now. That’s 74 new penguins this year . . . and counting.

Three penguins decorating a sparkly igloo

Acquired: August 21, 2008, Christmas Cottage, New York City

Number: 0491

Size: 3.25 inches tall

Price: $9.95

Two penguins building snowman on a toboggan

Acquired: August 21, 2008, Christmas Cottage, New York City

Number: 0492

Size: 3.5 inches tall

Price: $9.95

Cuddle up

My dreams of opening a Christmas shop where I live in the Poconos were dashed when I discovered the Christmas Factory in nearby Marshall’s Creek, Pa. It’s a great Christmas shop in a barnlike building, packed with all kinds of ornaments, like this cuddly odd couple. The store also has an upstairs that’s fun to explore.

Little penguin and snowman pair

Acquired: January 9, 2008, Christmas Factory, Marshall’s Creek , Pa.

Number: 0448

Size: 2.75 inches tall

Price: $9.99

Bits and pieces

These four penguins aren’t part of a set, but they are all made by the same company and I bought them together at a drug store one day. I don’t even remember why I was in the store, but it must have been on my way to work one morning. I was surprised to see such nice ornaments in a chain drug store, especially since the Christmas aisle was about half depleted and it looked like a tornado had gone through. The snowman, for example had no nose. I looked in the cardboard box directly below where the ornament was hanging and found the tip of either a snowman nose or a penguin beak inside. I pocketed the nose tip, bought the ornament and glued it on when I got home. I’m not sure if it was the right nose for the snowman or not, but it came out looking pretty good. Also when I got home, I found two holes in the bottom of the penguin with the tall red polka dot hat where his legs should have been. I imagine he had wiry legs like the penguin in the tool bag, but I think he looks fine as is.

All Merry Brite ornaments acquired December 7, 2007, CVS drug store, Eagle Valley, Pa.

Penguin in a blue bag of toys with white wire legs

Number: 0431

Size: 4.25 inches tall

Price: $2.99

Penguin with snowman and Christmas tree on patch of blue and white glittery snow

Number: 0432

Size: 3.5 inches tall

Price: $7.99

Roly poly penguin with tall, red hat with white polka dots

Number: 0433

Size: 3.5 inches tall

Price: $2.99

Penguin and Santa Claus on a green sled

Number: 0434

Size: 2.5 inches tall

$2.99

Little village

Oops. I went away for the weekend and left my laptop on my desk at work. All the penguin photos are there or I could have figured out a way to post penguin ornaments while I was away. Yes, I have them backed up, but on my desktop computer at home. Lot of good that did me. I figured out how to schedule a post for a date that has already past, so I can get the daily time stamp on the weekend postponed posts. Here a snowman and a penguin meet in the middle of a village painted on an egg-shaped, frost-covered open globe. You get a good view of the village through the clear back of the globe.

Home@Target penguin and snowman skaters

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

Number: 315

Size: 3.5 inches tall

Price: $3.99

Guilty pleasure

It was an innocent enough idea. At a small family gathering in New York, someone suggested we go look at the Christmas windows. Lord & Taylor, which does just about everything well, has some of the best. Of course, once we got there, we had to go inside to look around. A stop at the Christmas decorations department turned out to be an expensive one for me. In addition to the Czech ornament posted yesterday, I also found this beautiful Christopher Radko snowman with a skating penguin and a couple of glass Waterford ornaments, which I’ll talk about tomorrow. I would have waited for the post-holiday markdowns, but I was afraid I might miss out. Also I didn’t know if I’d make it back to Lord & Taylor in time. I don’t like spending so much on myself before Christmas, but I also found some clothes on sale that I really needed and also picked up a couple of gifts for other people, which made me feel a little less guilty.

Crystal Bright by Radko snowman and skating penguin

Acquired: November, 26, 2005, Lord & Taylor, New York City

Number: 0271

Size: 5.25 inches tall

Price: $25