Ornament Review: The Merriest House in Town - 2019 Hallmark Ornament

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Peanuts add fun to this decorated house

Cons: Doesn’t interact with other ornaments

The Bottom Line:

Peanuts add to fun

Of decorations galore

Great lights and music

A Merry House with a Peanuts Twist

I can’t seem to resist buying Hallmark’s crazy house ornaments.  Each year, I think I’m going to resist, and each year they suck me in again.  They got me this year when they added a Peanuts twist to The Merriest House in Town.

The ornaments in this unofficial series are all inspired by the houses we’ve seen, in videos if not real life, of houses that go all out at Christmas with coordinated lights and music.  This particular home owner is obviously a Peanuts fan since they’ve added some Peanuts elements to the fun.  On top of the house is a giant inflatable Snoopy.  Caroling around the bird bath in the front of the house are Woodstock and two friends.  There are some non-Peanuts elements, too, like a regular looking snowman in the yard and a sign that says “Joy” on the front of the house.  And, of course, there are lights.  All the sides are covered with lights and there are bigger lights on the roof.  The bigger lights on the roof are red and green, while the smaller lights on the rest of the house are all white.

Completing the Peanuts theme is the music.  When you press the button on the side of the ornament, you’ll hear “Linus and Lucy” and watch as the lights flash in time with the music.  If the name of the song doesn’t ring any bells, this is the instrumental jazz number that plays during A Charlie Brown Christmas and some other Peanuts specials.  Trust me, after a couple of notes, you’ll know exactly what it is.

To get the show to play, you’ll need to plug this ornament into one of Hallmark’s new power cords (sold separately).  Again, that is my only complaint with this ornament.  The power cord is designed for some great shows when you hooked related ornaments up to it.  However, for the stand alone ornaments, I miss this element.  I actually preferred these houses attached to the older Magic Cord, which allowed all the ornaments on a particular strand to flash in time to the music when you started any ornament attached.

The ornament has a nice flat base.  What house doesn’t?  So if you want to set these ornaments out to be displayed, you can easily do that.  When you go to hang it on your tree, you’ll find it hangs straight.

I wish that The Merriest House in Town interacted with other ornaments somehow.  But that doesn’t diminish my enjoyment of the ornament in the slightest.