Ornament Review: The Nativity #3 - Shepherds - 2000 Hallmark Ornament

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: We get the shepherds

Cons: Details and lack of color make it hard to tell; major tip

The Bottom Line:

Shepherds come to kneel

But could use more detail, color

To make them look good

Shepherds Keeping Watch

When I started getting into Hallmark’s miniature ornaments this year, I bought all four ornaments in the Nativity series sight unseen.  Even if I’d bought them in order, I would have kept going since I like the first two in the series.  But with the third, which focuses on the shepherds, we switch to ornaments that are just okay.

This ornament features 3 shepherds who have come to worship the newborn King.  One is kneeling in front of the other two, who are standing.  Like the others in the series, it is made from pewter, and as a result, it’s all one shade of gray.  Being a miniature ornament, it’s only about one inch tall and one inch wide.

And this ornament definitely falls into the category where less is not more.  Honestly, you have to really look to determine that these are the shepherds.  I keep seeing three and thinking wise men.  It might help is they had a shepherd’s crook or a lamb with them.  As it is, we get three men with beards and robes.  If you didn’t know who they were supposed to be, there would be no way to know.

While the monochromatic approach works for the first two in the series, it really doesn’t work out here.  Because one shepherd is kneeling in front of the others, you need some variety of color to truly see what is going on.  The ornament is too small for the details to show up otherwise.

Like the rest of the series, there is a nice flat base, so you could set these out together for a miniature nativity scene.  You’ll also find the 3 in a Christmas tree on the bottom of the ornament.

Of course, hanging the ornament is also an option.  The loop is actually on the back of one of the standing shepherds, so it hangs all kinds of crooked.  It’s got a very noticeable tip to the front left, which makes sense when you look at the ornament.

It’s too bad that the ornaments slipped in quality as the Nativity series went along.  It makes for an average third entry in the series.

If you want the complete miniature scene, be sure to check out the rest of the Nativity miniature series.

Original Price: $9.95