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

Inside out

Just like my other Ne’Qwa ornament, this one came in a velvet box and it’s painted on the inside. But it has a very different, more whimsical look than the other one. I might not have bought it, but it was on sale and it was the last one in the store. And besides, I like it.

Ne’Qwa “Penguins,” Claire Mackie, artist
Acquired: April 18, 2019, Christmas Past, New Hope, Pa.
Number: 0774
Size: 6 inches tall
Price: $26.95 (60 percent off)

Grin and bear it

This is a cute little stuffed penguin that I bought on a trip to New Hope, Pa. I have a routine when I’m going to or passing through New Hope. I drive by the Christmas store to see if it’s open, then turn right into the alley just past it. Parking in a touristy Colonial town like New Hope can be difficult, but there's almost always an empty spot in this little known alley off the main street. This particular visit, the store was clearing out stock to make room for new goods, so there weren't many penguin ornaments, but they were all 60 percent off.

Bearington Collection Tiny Tux stuffed penguin with red and green knit scarf
Acquired: April 18, 2010, Christmas Past, New Hope, Pa.

Number: 0773

Size: 4.5 inches tall

Price: $3.20 (originally $7.95)

Penguin Obsessed

When I started My Penguin Tree last January, I estimated that it would take about a year to get all of the ornaments posted online. A year and a few weeks later, I’ve reached that point. All the ornaments that I owned then are now archived here. Last week, my friend SallyAnn asked me what I was going to when I run out of penguins. Well, we don’t have to worry about that just yet, because since last year, I’ve added almost 150 penguin ornaments to the collection (although some of them have already been posted) and there’ll no doubt be more in the months ahead. After that, I’ve got a lot of other Christmas penguins that aren’t ornaments. Plates. Towels. Coasters. Tree skirts. Mugs. A lot of mugs. (What do you think, Becky, mypenguinmugs.blogspot.com?) At some point this year, I will run out of penguins or at least the flood will be reduced to a trickle. Then we’ll see what happens. Meanwhile, here’s the latest addition to the family, a sweet gift from our friend Ashley over at Decorating Obsessed. She has a penguin tree and a good eye for excellent penguin ornaments, among other things. This penguin seems like it’s made of gingerbread and it looks good enough to eat. You know, it’s hard to believe that after 900 of these, an ornament like this can come along and knocks my socks off. Thanks, Ashley.

Little gingerbread penguin

Acquired: January 22, 2010

Number: 0912 (changed from 0911 on Feb. 23, 2011)
Size: 4 inches tall (added Feb. 23, 2011)

Big Christmas

The stylish white ceramic ornament is from Jonathan Adler, who also designed a similar salt and pepper shaker as well as a larger penguin figurine. It makes me wish there were a black ornament too, just like the salt and pepper set. This was just one of three ornaments my sister and brother in law gave me one Christmas. The other two were a tiny snow globe penguin and a crafty felt ornament, both form Crate and Barrel, I think, and both excellent additions to my penguin tree.

Jonathan Adler unglazed white porcelain stylized penguin

Acquired: December 22, 2009, gift from Xena and John Galietti, my sister and brother-in-law

Number: 766

Size: 3.5 inches tall

Crate and barrel tiny snow globe body with red glass hat and scarf

Acquired: December 22, 2009, gift from Xena and John Galietti

Number: 0767

Size: 2.25 inches tall

Crate and Barrel wide-stitched felt pengun with big red hat , red and white scarf, big brown beak and yellow feet

Acquired: December 22, 2011, gift from Xena and John Galietti

Number: 0768

Size: 6 inches tall

Pine cone penguin

If I were giving out awards, this pine cone penguin would probably win best use of natural products in making a penguin Christmas tree ornament. It’s a beauty.

Pottery Barn pine cone body with bottle brush head, black beak and eyes, wooden wings and feet

Acquired: December 22, 2009, gift from niece Jenny Parsons

Number: 0765

Size:

Pieced together

You’d think a store called The Christmas TreeShop would be full of penguin ornaments, but that wasn’t the case. I had to paw through a few bins to scrape together a complete set of these rubbery particle penguins. I guess they are very fragile, because most of the leftover ornaments had holes punched in them or heads broken off or the lights punched out or not working at all. Hey, they were all real cheap at least.

I found some similar rubbery particle ball penguins later on and there was a similar problem with breakage, although the carnage was not nearly as bad as what I saw at the Christmas Tree Shop with a few shopping days left before Christmas.

Four fragile rubbery particle ball penguins with lights

Acquired: December 19, 2009, Christmas Tree Shop, Allentown, Pa.

Number: 0760 0761 0762 0763

Size: 3.75 inches tall

Price: $1 each, I think

White rubbery particle ball penguin with light

Acquired: November 7, 2010, Target, Stroudsburg, Pa.

Number: 0842

Size: 4 inches tall

Price: $3

Black and white rubbery particle ball penguin with light

Acquired: November 21, 2010, Walgreens, Stroudsburg, Pa.

Number: 0878

Size: 4 inches tall

Price: $1.99