Ornament Review: Mickey as Bob Cratchit - Mickey's Christmas Carol #1 - 2009 Hallmark Ornament

Stars: 5 out of 5
Pros: Excellent detail makes this ornament lovely to look at

Cons: Feather could be too delicate to store well

The Bottom Line:

Small details are great

I love just looking at it

New series starts well

Details Make the Debut of the Mickey's Christmas Carol Hallmark Keepsake Ornament Series Awesome

For years, my family has bought Christmas ornaments as souvenirs from various vacations.  They are wonderful to pull out and remind you of the good times.  Between those and the ornaments I started buying from Hallmark (why did I ever do that?), I've got a tree full.  And yet, I started collecting a new series from Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments that started this year.  The series will feature characters and scenes from Mickey's Christmas Carol.  And since I love Disney, A Christmas Carol, and that special, how could I resist?

The series starts with Mickey as Bob Cratchit.  The details on this thing are amazing.  Mickey is sitting as his desk is Scrooge's counting house working on the books.  While the ornament is made out of plastic, the desk and chair are painted to look like wood.  You can see the grain of the wood, in fact.  There are small, random patches of gray, however.  In bright light looking too closely at it, they look weird.  But in soft light, like the light from a Christmas tree, those patches look like dust.  It really is a remarkable illusion.  There are two books between the chair and the desk, for Mickey to use to jump down to the ground, just like he did in the cartoon.  Even the book is detailed with lines representing his writing on one page and part of the second.  And Mickey is wearing his coat and scarf trying to stay warm.

My only hesitation on the looks of the ornament is Mickey's feather pen.  They used a real feather, and it looks great now.  Maybe not quite as nice as the picture on the box, but does anything ever look that nice?  But we are given bubble wrap and a box to store the ornament in for 11 months a year.  I'm afraid that the feather will get crushed and look rather pathetic after a few years no matter how carefully I put it away.

With all of Hallmark's series, they include the year and ornament number somewhere.  In this case, both are located on the bottom of Mickey's desk.  It's a little small, but you can see 2009 and a 1 in an outline of a Christmas tree.

The ornament seems large to me, even though it is about 1.5 inches by 2.5 inches.  The real size is the height, but even that is just under 3 inches.  I'm not sure why it seems so large, because if I stop to think about it, I've got others that will be bigger.

The ornament looks delicate with the small legs from the desk and chairs.  But since it is made out of plastic is feels sturdy.  Not that I'd want to drop it.  It doesn't stand quite level.  It rocks just a tiny bit when you set it on a flat surface.

The brass ring for hanging the ornament is located near the bottom of Mickey's book.  It's a little tricky to get the hook in there, but it's also not super obvious when you look at it.  It slightly dips to one corner when you hang it.  Ironically, it's one of the corners I would have expected to be the lightest.  It's not enough that you would notice normally, however.

There are no hidden electronics to produce light or sound.  Considering the ornament was already $16.50, I'm glad.  I love it, but I can't afford to spend much more than that on it.

Every time I look at the ornament, I see something new.  If the rest of the series is as detailed as Mickey as Bob Cratchit, I'm going to hope this series lasts a long time.

Check out the rest of the Mickey's Christmas Carol series.

Original Price: $16.50