Ornament Review: Waiting for the Great Pumpkin - Happiness is Peanuts All Year Long #3 - 2013 Hallmark Ornament

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Perfect choice for October, cute

Cons: Doesn't hang right with the stand

The Bottom Line:

Another year spent

In a sincere pumpkin patch

This year for sure.  Right?

This Will be the Year the Great Pumpkin Shows Up.  I Can Just Feel It.

When I heard that Hallmark was doing a year long series of ornaments based on the Peanuts characters, I knew what October was going to be.  I mean, is there a more iconic October Peanuts image than Linus Waiting for the Great Pumpkin?  And sure enough, that's exactly what we got.

The ornaments features Linus leaning on a pumpkin.  He's wearing a blue and white striped shirt.  He's propped up on his right arm, and he's smiling at us while he waits for the Great Pumpkin to rise from the pumpkin patch and bring toys to all the good girls and boys.

This is one of those ornaments where the angle is truly deceiving.  What do I mean?  Well, between the pumpkin and Linus's shoes, the ornament has a nice flat base, so you can set it out on any flat surface.  The pumpkin is tilted at a bit on a angle, but it really isn't that noticeable when the ornament is standing.  You're drawn more to Linus leaning on the pumpkin, so it looks natural.

There is a hook for hanging the ornament, and it's sticking out the side of Linus's head.  And when I looked at the angle, I was sure that it would hang crooked.  And it does hang a bit off center side to side.  But you know what?  It looks right.  That's because the pumpkin is actually sitting up straight at this new angle.  Linus is still leaning, but he's standing up straighter, too.  Honestly, it looks good no matter which way you display it.

Which is a good thing since I will probably be displaying him on the stand.  Once again, the hook isn't turned so that Linus displays out when you hang him on the Happiness Is… stand that you can buy separately as a companion for this series.  While he doesn't turn as much as Schroeder does in the first in the series, it's still a shame he doesn't face the room.

However, the background is great.  You've got a full moon peaking into a pumpkin patch with several pumpkins behind Linus.  No, the Great Pumpkin isn't lurking in the background, but I know he's there.  He's just going to pop up in another second or two.  Really.

Being a series ornament, you'll find the 3 in a Christmas tree on the bottom of the pumpkin.  Yep, even though a year long series, they are still using the Christmas tree for this series.

As I stated earlier, I knew this would be the subject for this month in the series, but that doesn't mean I don't love it.  It's a cute ornament, and the background is just perfect.  Because of the pumpkin and Linus, it does appear to be one of the bigger ornaments in the series, but that's okay.  I wouldn't change a thing about it.

It's fun ornaments like this that made starting the series an easy decision for me.  And now I can spend every year with Linus Waiting for the Great Pumpkin.

Be sure to check out the rest of the Happiness is Peanuts All Year Long series.

Original Price: $12.95