Ornament Review: Joe Cool - Spotlight on Snoopy #1 - 1998 Hallmark Ornament

Stars: 5 out of 5
Pros: Festive ornament that Snoopy's fans will love

Cons: Hard to find because it is older

The Bottom Line:

Spotlight on Snoopy

Off to a cool, festive start

Hang him on your tree

Cool Start to the Spotlight on Snoopy Series

My Christmas tree is your classic eclectic.  I buy ornaments as souvenirs.  And once I got started on buying Hallmark Keepsake ornaments, it also started to reflect my loves.  One such love is Peanuts, so over the years, I've managed to track down all of the Spotlight on Snoopy series.  The first one, released in 1998, is Joe Cool.

Frankly, this is a very festive start to the series.  The only two characters to appear in this series are Snoopy and Woodstock.  On this ornament, Snoopy is dressed as Santa Claus.  He's wearing the red hat and jacket, but not the boots.  So what makes him cool?  As always when he's being Joe Cool, he's wearing sun glasses.  Additionally, he's giving us the thumbs up with his free hand.  Snoopy has a bag of toys slung over his shoulder, and Woodstock is hitching a ride on the bag.  The little bird is wearing a green cap and holding a map of the United States for their travels.  Frankly, I hope they don't follow that map because it has them wandering all over the country in just about the longest route imaginable.  It's a simple ornament with no bells, lights, or music.

Hallmark marks all ornaments in a series with the number in a triangle.  This time, the number 1 is on Snoopy's foot (and the triangle sure looks like a Christmas tree to me).  If you look at Snoopy's bag, you'll see a 98 inlayed in it, representing the year the ornament was released.

The ornament is made from plastic and is fairly light weight.  There are no obvious pieces that could break off; however, I doubt it is designed to stand up to too much rough treatment.  It originally came in a small cardboard box wrapped in bubble wrap.  I've just kept it in that since I got it, and it's been fine.

Snoopy stand perfectly flat on his feet, so you could set him out in a display if you wished.  I, however, hang my ornaments from the tree.  There is a small metal ring just off the top of Snoopy's head, and it's very easy to slip an ornament hanger through it.  Snoopy hangs every so slightly forward, but you'd never really notice unless you were looking for it.  Since he isn't that heavy, the branches on my artificial tree don't move much at all when I hang him on my tree.

Because they tried to capture Snoopy in various classic characters from the Peanuts comic strip, not all of them are especially festive.  That's one reason why I like this ornament.  It may still be a classic Snoopy characters, but it's been given a very Christmas twist.  He looks and feels so Christmassy on my tree.

Hallmark ornaments are only produced for one year, so the age of this ornament is the biggest drawback.  It will be hard to track down Joe Cool.  But any Peanuts fan will be very thankful to have this 1998 classic.

Be sure to check out the rest of the Spotlight on Snoopy series.

Original Price: $9.95