Come Make a New Sandman Friend
I am out of room for Hallmark ornaments. I need to start culling my collection and I need to stop beginning new series. Which is exactly why I bought the first Sandal the Sandman ornament. He’s just so cute, and I love the idea.
As the name suggests, we are getting a tropical spin on traditional Christmas activities with this series. Our friend is Sandal, and he is a Sandman. You know, like a snowman, but made out of sand. He’s wearing a beach hat and a blue and white striped beach towel instead of a scarf. And for this first ornament in the series, he is decorating a tree. No, it’s not an evergreen Christmas tree. He’s decorating a palm tree. He’s got a star fish on there and some sea snails as ornaments. He’s wrapping some seaweed around the trunk. Okay, so it is really a pipe cleaner, but I’m sure it is supposed to represent seaweed. He’s being helped by his friend, a sea turtle.
I live in a warm climate, so, as much as I love Christmas, I don’t have warm memories of snow and snowmen, except in song and movies. I don’t dream of a white Christmas either. So, this ornament appealed to me for that reason. While I’ve never gone to this extreme either, I love the idea of putting a warm climate twist on Christmas.
The turtle is stylized in a way that could be overly cute and cartoony. In fact, I often would think he is. For some reason, he appeals to me, here. I suspect it will be a fine balance going forward, but I hope it continues to work for me.
Having said that, the ornament is just a little larger than I would like it to be. It’s about four inches tall, and the rest is proportioned accordingly. Hallmark seems to be going with larger ornaments more and more these days. It’s not a huge issue, but it does bug me a little. (Puns definitely intended.) It’s not quite as obvious when you have it by itself, but if you put it with other ornaments, you will see what I’m talking about.
Fortunately, the ornament is well balanced and hangs straight when you put it on your tree.
Or you can set the ornament out to be displayed. It has a nice, flat base, so you can enjoy it year-round. Maybe even for Christmas in July if you live in an area where it snows in December. You’ll also find the 1 in a Christmas tree on the bottom denoting that it is starting a new series.
Do I need to start any new series? No. Did I really hesitate about getting Sandal the Sandman? Also no. He’s so cute, and I hope this series continues to be a fun twist on Christmas.
Enjoy more tropical Christmas with the rest of the Sandal the Sandman ornaments.
This one is super cute! I love the colors
ReplyDeleteLong story, but for my family New Year's like Christmas. I imagine my six year old will love it or find it cute, followed by five million questions of how snowman and turtle can survive the climate?
ReplyDeleteThat's where you are in luck. This is a sandman, not a snowman. Makes it easy for a sandman and turtle to live in the same climate. (I think I caught all the times I mistyped that, but if I still missed some, I apologize.)
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