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Sunday, January 3, 2021

Ornament Review: Happy New Year - Once Upon a Christmas Companion - 2020 Release

Stars: 5 out of 5
Pros: Wraps up Santa’s trip with a New Year’s party
Cons: None for me
The Bottom Line:
Santa hosts party
Time to ring in the new year
Bookmark ornament

Ring in the New Year with Santa and Mrs. Claus

When Hallmark started their Once Upon a Christmas series ten years ago, they also released a companion piece.  Now that the series has come to an end, they are closing it out in the same way, with the Happy New Year companion piece.

The ornament series showed us Santa’s journey as he prepared for his big night and then went out delivering toys.  The series ended this year with Santa returning from his journey.  And what comes right after Christmas?  New Year’s, of course.  And that’s what we find Santa celebrating with this ornament.

The ornament actually features Santa and Mrs. Claus.  They are standing in the middle of the floor of a New Year’s party.  Santa is holding mistletoe over their heads, and they are just about to kiss.  We can see from Santa’s pocket watch, hanging from his pants, that it is midnight.  There are bits of streamers and confetti on the floor around them.

This series uses Hallmark’s Magic Cord.  As soon as you plug in the ornament, you’ll see that the base lights up in green and red.  The thing about this cord, and the thing I will miss now that they have phased it out (the two ornaments for this series are going to be the final ones using the cord, I’m sure), is the way the lights on these ornaments would interact.  Whichever ornament was playing at the moment would lead the rest of the ornaments in a light show.  I’m not saying that the new Power Cord doesn’t have some great features, too, but the way these ornaments would interact was always great.

Anyway, this ornament does put on a show of its own when you press the button on the floor of the ornament.  Both Santa and Mrs. Claus speak, and they talk about the wonderful year behind them and how much they are looking forward to the new year.  We hear the elves count down the final few seconds before an instrumental version of “Auld Lang Syne” plays.  All told, this lasts about a minute.  Meanwhile, we also see that Santa’s pocket watch lights up and the lights on the base put on a show in time with the music.

I’ve enjoyed this series from the very beginning.  I can’t think of a better companion piece to fully finish off the series.  We don’t get too many ornaments for New Year’s, so that’s an added draw as well.  But seeing Santa get to relax and throw a party just a bit after his big trip is lots of fun.

I’ve mentioned the base of the ornament previously.  It’s big, and the entire series had them.  I’m sure it was to hold the workings that made the lights and sound work.  It also provides a flat base, so you can easily set up all twelve ornaments in a row and enjoy Santa’s journey from start to finish.

Or, you can hang the ornament on your tree, which is what I did this year.  The loop is in the top of Santa’s shiny gold hat.  The ornament hangs straight, although I always find that they tip when I hang them on my tree because the base hits the branches around the ornament.

Happy New Year is a wonderful bookend to the Once Upon a Christmas series.  If you’ve been collecting this series, you’ll be glad you added it to your collection.

Check out the rest of Santa’s journey with the Once Upon a Christmas series.

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