What a catch

If this had been the only ornament I found at Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland, it would have made the trip worthwhile. I think that’s all I have to say.

Precious Moments porcelain bisque “Catch the Spirit of Christmas” 2011 penguin in pink hat fishing for present with candy cane pole

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

Number: 0954

Size: 3 inches tall

Price: $22.50

Wrong year

I have a number of ornaments that are inscribed with the year I bought them, but this one found it’s way to a clearance table where it languished for about five years until I found it. I was on my home from a trip to Montreal and had to stop at a souvenir shop for a rest room break. Once inside, I decided to snoop around just in case there were any Christmas ornaments. There were only a few and this was the only penguin. He resembles another ornament that I posted so long ago, also an Old World Christmas creation. Zoom in and you’ll see the OWC mark on the metal hanging cap.

2003 candy cane toboggan, lots of glitter and a long flowing gold and purple scarf

Acquired: April 20, 2008, Country Kettle Gift and Candy Outlet, East Stroudsburg, Pa.

Number: 0461

Size: 3.25 inches tall           

Price: $9.95

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

Ring in the new

This penguin was scheduled to run next week, but I moved it up after I wrote the title  “Ring out the old” on yesterday’s bell ornament. I think this is my only New Year’s ornament, and a fine one it is, a gift from my sister Xena and brother-in-law John. Just look at the beautiful detail on the back.

Happy New Year 2008 penguin

Acquired: March 2008, gift from Xena and John, my sister and brother-in-law

Number: 0452

Size: 4 inches tall

Ring out the old

“Porter the Penguin” is painted on a little cowbell and is inscribed with the place where I bought it and the year.

Giggle-Lings penguin bell ornament

Acquired: December 20, 2007, Christmas Cottage, New York

Number: 0442

Size: 2.5 inches tall

Price: $9.95

Kris Kringle, part IV: Mom and Pop

There was no one in the store that day except me and Marge, the owner, who got into the Christmas business when she bought a box of ornaments at an auction and started selling them at street festivals with her husband. One thing led to another and Kris Kringle was the result. Her husband had died about ten years earlier, but she kept the shop open, even though she said it didn’t really make that much money, because she loves it, and just in case her grown children wanted to keep it going. In the back of the store was a shelf filled with toys from fast food kiddie meals to keep her grandchildren busy. I wandered through the store until I found the penguin cache where Marge caught up with me. “I wasn’t going to be open today, but I thought I would get some things done,” she told me. I still can’t believe how lucky I was to find this amazing place, a “mom-and-pop” shop that would be just like one I might have liked to own myself.

Hallmark 1989 Mom and Dad skaters

Acquired: Sept. 2, 2007, Kris Kringle, Scottsdale, Ariz.

Number: 0370

Size: 2.5 inches tall

Price: $9.75

Walk in the park

Bryant Park, one of my favorite green spaces in New York City, covers nearly two city blocks behind the Astor Library building. In the warm months its crammed with midtown workers on their lunch breaks. During the holidays it becomes a winter wonderland with a skating rink surrounded by dozens of small gift kiosks. It’s an excellent place to find that hard to find gift and it’s always a good place to find penguins. Here are four similar ornaments that came from two different shops. All could have been personalized for free, but I left them blank except for one “NYC 2006.” I don’t remember if I asked them to write that for me, or if I found an ornament already inscribed. I also don’t remember why I paid so much for them. I guess that’s why the inscriptions were “free.”

Penguin with big red heart and green scarf, Rudolph and Me Inc., made in China

Acquired: December 4, 2006, Santa’s Pen/Workshop, Bryant Park, New York

Number: 0344

Size: 4 inches tall

Price: $15.99

Kissing penguins under snow-covered heart, Rudolph and Me Inc., made in China

Acquired: December 4, 2006, Santa’s Pen/Workshop, Bryant Park, New York

Number: 0345

Size: 4.5 inches tall

Price: $12.99

Family of six penguins with wire skates, Rudolph and Me Inc., made in China

Acquired: December 4, 2006, Santa’s Pen/Workshop, Bryant Park, New York

Number: 0346

Size: 3.5 inches tall by 4 inches wide

Price: $17.99

Ceramic penguin with string of Christmas stockings, Panel Trim Inc.

Acquired: December 4, 2006, Bryant Park, New York

Number: 0348

Size: 3.75 inches tall

Big year

It looks like 2006 was a big year for these little penguins. They’re ready for the holidays with lots of presents, a big red and green candy cane and a decorated Christmas tree. Zoom in to see the signature Christopher Radko star on the metal hanging cap, and while you’re at it, check out those Radko eyelashes. Notice how the beaded hanging string looks like a continuation of the gold garland that wraps around behind the top penguin and down the back of the number 6.

A Year for Cheer, Christopher Radko 2006 ornament

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

Number: 0338

Size: 4 inches tall by 5.75 inches wide

Price: $48 (no discount) 

Montreal through the years

Both of these ornaments have the same design that says, “Joyeux Noël Eternel, Montreal” on one side. They have different penguins painted on the opposite side. One has a single penguin with pink hat and the other shows a family of three. The one I bought in 2009 has the year on the penguin side and one from 2006 has the year on the other side. It was nice to see that the price hadn’t changed in the time between them, but I'll bet the exchange rate was different each time.

2006 porcelain Noël Eternel icicle-like ornament with penguin family of three

Acquired: July 1, 2006, Noël Eternel, Montreal, PQ

Number: 0295

Size: 4 inches tall

Price: 9.99 $CAN

2009  porcelain Noël Eternel icicle-like ornament with single penguin in a pink hat

Acquired: September 11, 2009, Noël Eternel, Montreal, PG

Number: 0710

Size: 4 inches tall

Price:9.99 $CAN

Same time, same place

These two ornaments are not part of a matched set, but I bought them together at the Holiday Gift Festival at Grand Central Terminal one year. They came in a “buy two, get one free” deal, but there were only two penguins. The third ornament was a nativity scene in the same flat cookie cutter style, and I gave to my brother and sister-in-law.

Carolyn Jordan Selections 2005 ceramic cookie cutter style penguin couple

Acquired: December 12, 2005, Grand Central Terminal Holiday Market

Number: 275

Size: about 3.5 inches tall

Price: 3 for $15

Carolyn Jordan Selections ceramic penguin ornament with holly and red ribbon bow tie

Acquired: December 12, 2005, Grand Central Terminal Holiday Market

Number: 276

Size: about 3.5 inches tall

Price: 3 for $15

Information updated July 23, 2010

A familiar name

This one’s got a unique star shape, the year, “New York,” a penguin with a heart and the artist’s signature etched in the clay on the bottom right point. I should have bought one for my sister, Gale West, who has the same name with a different spelling.

New York 2004 penguin on a brown clay star by artist Gail West

Acquired: December 17, 2004, Christmas Cottage, New York City

Number: 262

Size: 4.25 inches tall

Price: $9.95

Christmas in July

They’re here, the 2010 Hallmark Keepsake ornaments. This weekend is Hallmark’s Ornament Premiere when they introduce a big part of their offerings for the year, and they always have some penguins. They’ll make others available in October and November. This is the first time I’ve ever gone to a Hallmark premiere. I usually wait until after Christmas to get the discounts, but I know I’ve missed out on some of the sold out penguins this way. I never knew Hallmark staged “events” like this until a few months ago, so I thought it might be a good idea to check it out. Also I had a discount card worth $10 (IF I spent $50, lol). The store I went to today, Jill’s Hallmark in Broadheadsville, Pa., was fairly busy with collectors filling shopping baskets with the new ornaments. It looked like some were already sold out, including a limited edition ornament celebrating 10 years of the Snowball and Tuxedo series that features a penguin and his snowman pal. But lucky for me, I decided to check out one my regular Christmas stops, Jay’s Hallmark in New York, which had the ornament and another limited edition called “Snow Many Penguins.” That’s the one I’m featuring today. I was able to buy the other five new penguins at Jill’s in Pennsylvania, but I probably won’t take photos until later in the year. If you want to see all of Hallmark’s offerings, you can go to their website or to their Dreambook catalog. I also found a couple of other penguin ornaments from previous years on a 75 percent off clearance shelf, which made me feel a little bit better about buying the others at full price. In the non-ornament, non-Christmas category, I couldn’t pass up a pair of eggplant penguins that caught my eye. I think I did the right thing.

Snow Many Penguins, Hallmark Keepsake limited edition 2010 ornament

Acquired: July 7, 2010, Jay’s Hallmark, New York

Size: 3.5 inches in diameter

Number: 779

Price: $9.95

Home Grown by Enesco eggplant penguin figurines (not a Christmas ornament)

Acquired: July 10, 2010, Jill’s Hallmark, Broadheadsville, Pa.

Size: abour 4 inches tall

Price: $12.49

Remember

It always makes me a little sad when I see this ornament. I bought it at the Grand Central Holiday Fair in December 2001, not long after the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon and the plane crash in Pennsylvania. The fire was still burning below the rubble at Ground Zero in December even as the cleanup was well under way. Our emotions were still raw, but I think Christmas did a lot to help us return to our normal routines. Although things would never be the same, life went on.

New York 2001 ceramic penguin

Acquired: December 2001

Number: 0192

Size: 2 inches tall

Triple play

A penguin dressed in Florida Marlins gear on a Christmas ornament. It doesn’t get any better than that in my book. A win-win-win situation. When I saw it online, I jumped all over it. Topperscot comes out with a new line of sports team ornaments every year. You can usually get the same ornament for just about any major sports or college team. I meant to post this Monday on opening day for the Marlins and Mets game and somehow let it slip by. Maybe I was distracted by the Marlins' loss. Instead, this post commemorates the Marlins’ first win of the season. I was afraid to write that last sentence until the game was finally over after 10 innings. Go Fish! 

Topperscot Florida Marlins 2006 penguin ornament, mlb.com online store

Acquired: Dec. 11, 2006

Number: 0353

Size: 3 inches diameter

Easter Sunday

The penguins might be singing Christmas carols on the inside, but it’s beginning to look a lot like Easter on the outside. The egg shape opens up the opportunity for the nifty sparkly blue star-filled night sky above the carolers.  Hallmark did a nice job on this one, which I found at Kris Kringle in Scottsdale, Ariz., one of my favorite Christmas shops.

Plastic cutaway egg with 1991 carolers, Hallmark, third in a series

Acquired: Sept. 2, 2007, Kris Kringle, Scottsdale, Arizona

Number: 371

Size: 3 inches tall

Price: $9.95

Go team!

A generic no-team, no-sport coach is the best thing I have for a post on Super Bowl Sunday. I know there are penguin football ornaments available, but I’ve just never seen one with a team I want. The coach came with another ornament that has a penguin in a golf cart. Nice golf club covers. They aren’t part of a set (the penguins are very different), but both were both gifts from my cousins Lee and Pat in Nevada, and both are plastic Hallmark ornaments from the same year.

Plastic Hallmark 1993 penguin coach

Acquired: probably 1994 or 1995

Number: 0136

Size: 2.5 inches tall

Plastic Hallmark 1993 “Putt-Putt!” penguin golfer in cart

Acquired: probably 1994 or 1995

Number: 0137

Size: 3.25 inches tall

Tiniest penguins

This Hallmark ornament is not the smallest in the collection, but the penguins on the are the smallest because the ice cube they’re standing on is so big. The ornament is so tiny that one year it got lost in the tree while I was trying to hang it near the top. I didn’t find it until after Christmas when I put the tree away. I’m not even sure I knew the baby was holding a fish until I saw the enlarged photo, or even that there was a baby. The ice cube is etched with the year 2001 the year I got it from my friends Jenny and Jason. They grew up with my nieces and they have always called me Uncle Don. Jenny is this blog's first follower.

Acquired: December 2001

Number: 0178

Price: gift

Size: about 1 1/8 inch tall