Ornament Review: Adobe Church - Candlelight Services #3 - 2000 Hallmark Ornament

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Unique style makes it stand out from rest of series

Cons: Doesn't light up as well as I would like

The Bottom Line:

I do like the look

If only it lit up better

It's still worth getting

The Adobe Church Stands Out in Good and Bad Ways

The creativity of the Hallmark artists really does amaze me.  They manage to create ornaments on a theme in a series year after year.  The ornaments always look good, so people keep buying them.  Even ones that don't quite hit the mark are still good.  Take the Adobe Church, the third in the Candlelight Services series, for example.

The Adobe Church stands out from the other eleven ornaments in a very big way - it is the only one in the series to not feature snow.  Of course, that does make sense since we are visiting the Southwest for this entry.  The plastic ornament features smooth brown walls and a Spanish tile roof.  The details on the front are quite nice with a fell in the middle and lights on either side of the door.  Instead of being surrounded by snow, the base of this ornament surrounds the church with grass.  And unlike the smooth white of the others, the grass here is textured.  There are even some rocks visible through the grass and cacti on either side of the door instead of the usual trees.  Around the back, artist Ed Seale carved his initials in the adobe itself instead of in the snow.  He also put the year there.  Somehow, it adds to the charm of the ornament instead of distracting.  And yes, you'll also find the year and the little series mark on the bottom.

Like the others in the series, the big base provides a nice, stable foundation if you decide to display the ornament on a flat surface.  The brass hook in the middle of the roof is positioned such that the ornament hangs perfectly level.

But the true joy of this series is sticking a light from your Christmas tree string in the back and watching it light up.  Unfortunately, the lighting effect doesn't work as well as it might this time around.  The windows are beautiful with rows of purple and green.  It should be beautiful.  Unfortunately, no matter what kind of light I stick in the back, the windows don't glow like the rest in the series do.  There are a total of seven windows that can light up (three on the left, three on the right, and one over the door).  However, I can only get good light out of one on each side.  I think the problem is the purple.  It just doesn't let enough light out to truly make the effect work well.  Also, the windows seem smaller to me, although I haven't actually measured them to check.  The modern energy efficient lights are even worse than the older, traditional lights, so I will stick with them.  Even then, it's a disappointment.

The Adobe Church is great to look at and truly stands out from the rest when you line all twelve in the series up side by side.  However, since I love this series for the lighting effect, so how poorly this ornament lights up ultimately makes it a bit of a disappointment.

Be sure to check out the other ornaments in the Candlelight Services series.

Original Price: $18.95