char634w

Lisa, you just about made me fall off my chair laughing - thanks. The amazing thing is that the first Hallmark ornament I ever received was a gift, a miniature one that was a soldier with a thimble for a hat. It was cute and I did collect thimbles so it was a very thoughtful gift. My honest feeling though was that it just did not compare to a handmade ornament. It was the second in a series I learned later but that did not get me to go into the Hallmark store to buy more until the sixth in the series came out and then I did go in every year after to get the current one in the series but I never bought any others. Then for some strange reason someone told me that Hallmark was starting a Holiday Barbie ornament series (1993) and I for sure should go in and buy the first one because some day it would be quite valuable (we shall see - haha) I never had a barbie doll as a kid (I was 10 when she was born) but for some reason I did think that the ornament was pretty and that started it all for me. Soon after I started hitting the after Christmas sales at Hallmark and now I have lots of them and the quality has improved tremendously and I am kinda really loving some of them especially the sewing related ones, Barbie, Madam Alexander, and a few others. I think it is another addiction just like fabric, baskets, sewing tools etc. All in all I still much prefer a handmade ornament any day.