Ornament Review: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - 2009 Hallmark Ornament

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Cozy display, great song clip, fits series well

Cons: None for me

The Bottom Line:

Decorated tree

And a wintry scene outside

And warm carol, too

All the Ingredients for a Merry Little Christmas

Over the last few years, one of my favorite Christmas songs has become, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."  I don't care who sings it, I love it.  (Well, I'm sure we could find exceptions, but you get the idea.)  That's one reason why I picked up Hallmark's 2009 ornament Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.

This ornament depicts a cozy Christmas scene.  From the outside, you can see a red bird sitting on the ledge of a window.  There is snow on the ground, and it feels like Christmas for sure.

Turn the ornament around, and you've got a nice, cozy Christmas scene.  There's a full Christmas tree decorated with garland and ornaments.  The tree is surrounded by presents.

As if that weren't enough, this is one of Hallmark's magic ornaments.  To operate it, you need three button batteries, and the first set was included with the ornament.  When they are installed in the base, you can press a button under the tree to hear about 30 seconds of Frank Sinatra singing the title song.  His is one version I don't have - yet - but I love the clip here.  You can picture the fire crackling that must be in the same room as the tree in this ornament.

The brass ring for hanging this ornament is in an ingenious spot.  It's attached to the back of the angel that sit atop the tree.  With where it is located, you can't see it unless you are looking for it, yet it's still relatively easy to slip your hook in there to hang it on the tree.  The ornament does tip slightly to one corner, but by the time you get it in the branches of a tree, you'll never notice.

I usually set this ornament out to display it, however.  With the nice wide base, that's no issue at all, and I never have to worry about it tipping.

See, I may be alone in this, but I consider this an unofficial companion piece to the Christmas Windows series.  It has the same idea, the outside and inside of a window at Christmas.  Plus Tammy Haddix, who sculpted this one, is one of the two regular contributors to the official series.  It's a bit smaller in size, but it makes a nice second home in the series that is almost exclusively shops.

Whether you get this to compliment the series or just because you love the song, you'll be glad to add Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas to your ornament collection.  It really will help you remember the golden days of yore.

Be sure to check out the rest of the Christmas Windows series.

Original Price: $16.50