Animal Christmas Ornaments

I hope ornaments in general isn't a thread already somewhere? If so, I will simply move over there, so point me to it! I have been waiting all year for the chance to talk about and see animal ornaments! I wanted to share some of my favorite non-toy animals and hopefully see some of yours as well. Collecting Christmas ornaments is long standing tradition for me. I think I love this collection so much in part because I only see it for about a month every year, so it is always special and new to experience them again. Plus, you really only find them for sale for about two or three months! I have some wonderful memories looking for them in stores with my mother. Things are a little difference these days, but the hunt online is also fun. Round about October every year, I start looking for the series that I know I already love as well as anything new and unique out there.

I'll show off mine in parts, because taking photos takes a long time, but if you have ornaments, please feel free to share them as well!

I'll start with my cloisonné collection, as to me it is the most "Christmasy." Not very realistic, but shiny and colorful and beautiful in a very elegant way (in my opinion). And, to a degree, still with some realistic elements (at least proportions, which is important to me with animal representation - no cartoonish proportions). Cloisonné animal ornaments were popular with one specific modern chain store for several years in the mid 2000's, so I ended up with quite a few, but there are not nearly as many every year now. In fact, the two I added this year were from years past, second hand. I feel like part of the appeal of these is that I had a book as a child where a miniature, articulated golden dog figure came to life, and these remind me of the charm of that. I also love that the nature of the artwork allows for invertebrates and reptiles and amphibians and fish to be just as common, if not more so, than mammals. Though I have no birds! I had to be very selective back in the day when there were several every year, because they are expensive, and the few birds I found were never my favorites.

These are the two I just added this year: Alligator and Cobra
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Red Fox (he does have four legs, the one just vanished with the angle!)
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Frilled Lizard
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Narwhal
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Armadillo
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Deer (Fat!)
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Frog
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Lion Fish
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Sea Turtle
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Butterfly
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Sea Horse
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Sea Horses
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Turtle
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Bee
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I think Suebedo and Mastiffcat showed some Christmas ornaments a long time ago, so better to start with a fresh new topic. Dutchbear also presented some but those were all bear related as usual with Sandor.
I am not sure crocs and gators work nicely as Christmas ornaments.
though, I enjoy a aquarium themed Christmas tree, with porcupinefish, many other colorful fishes and a starfish on top. Seahorses too of course.

An aquatic tree would be a lovely theme, but I could never narrow my focus down so much. I already have two trees in my room and we have the large tree for the rest of the house, I should not be tempted to make even more.

Crocs and gators are exquisite holiday animals, as you can see here from this rather famous Christmas display in the state of Louisiana.
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You love to have fun with gators.
It was just an idea, you don't have to do it. I don't have a Christmas tree yet but I hardly can find those ornaments. Oh, I have an armadillo somewhere.

Jill wrote:

Armadillo
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what a beauty this purple armadillo is!! how super to have such gorgeous and fun ornaments Jill, congratulations!

I have a cloissone goldfish ornament collection! (what else lol) There are a few other fish species smuggled in though. Love your gator and lionfish!
Do you have a World Market nearby? I was surprised to find them there this year.

I have also gotten many animal ornaments, though recent years have seen the species selection narrowed just as with the figures. My tree currently has lots of fish (heavy on goldfish and deep sea anglers), dinosaurs, insects and dragons, along with German and Australian shepherd dogs (plus a few random dogs). I have enough ornaments that not everything gets used every year! But that's part of the fun.

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All I have is a picture of the tree, I will try to get some pics of specific ornaments when I can.

What a superb collection of gorgeous ornaments and gorgeous tree (and shepherd) Kelly! Glad to see Queenie. :)

I love that gator and cobra, congratulations on the new additions. 

I have slowly been collecting what I would describe as "odd" ornaments. I will try to snap a few photos soon and share. :) It is a small one and I usually get light teases from my family members when they see them each year but that is precisely why I love them so much.

Interesting. But i am sure my wife would don't like it

These are really beautiful, I love the way they manage to be such jewel-like little treasures, you could imagine them on display in a little cabinet in some grand palace as collectable precious trinkets. I love what a wide range of species you have, too, not just typical animals the general public find popular/cute but some very unusual interesting ones.
I've never seen anything like them, so thank you very much for sharing (I don't celebrate christmas so I never did go looking in that part of shops, it's quite possible they ARE a thing here and I just don't know about them, hahah)

This is a wonderful idea for a topic in the build up to Christmas! I love your ornaments, and the way they combine that beautiful Christmas shiny look with good proportions and accuracy as you said! I love that fox, such a stunning decoration! Can't wait to see more from your collection!
Love the tree and Queenie too Kelly!
And I will have to see what dogs I can dig out at some point!

pipsxlch wrote:

I have a cloissone goldfish ornament collection! (what else lol) There are a few other fish species smuggled in though. Love your gator and lionfish!
Do you have a World Market nearby? I was surprised to find them there this year.

I don't think we do! I'll have to google and see, I definitely need another place to scout out for ornaments. I would love to see your fish when you get a chance! I think cloissone goldfish sound beautiful!!!

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All I have is a picture of the tree, I will try to get some pics of specific ornaments when I can.

Beautiful tree and beautiful dog! I love how dense the lights are. We have about 1800 lights on our tree, haha. The more the merrier.

Saarlooswolfhound wrote:

I have slowly been collecting what I would describe as "odd" ornaments. I will try to snap a few photos soon and share. :) It is a small one and I usually get light teases from my family members when they see them each year but that is precisely why I love them so much.

That sounds wonderful, I can't wait to see what exactly "odd" means. We have some on the main tree that certainly have some character.

George wrote:

These are really beautiful, I love the way they manage to be such jewel-like little treasures, you could imagine them on display in a little cabinet in some grand palace as collectable precious trinkets.

Exactly my feel looking at them. They are just copper, but they have the air of one-of-a-kind gem encrusted treasures.

Bonnie wrote:

And I will have to see what dogs I can dig out at some point!

Would love to see them! We have a few dogs on the main tree, but they are rather cartoonish. The fox is my only canine!

I don't have many ornaments made of glass. Blown glass in particular makes me very nervous, because it's so fragile, and it also tends to have a very puffy/balloon-y quality which isn't my favorite. But I have found two that I felt matched my wildlife tree, and also represented species I love and which don't get much ornament attention!

Chameleon
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Spotted Hyena
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And this one certainly doesn't quite match, but I bought it at the coast from an artisan with a little booth. Thanks to its artistic charm and good memories, it too lives on the tree, despite being a very abstracted version of a sea turtle. It's meant to be a window hanger, but I lack any good windows for such a piece!

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I have and love vintage glass ornaments, but don't have any out- with a big active dog and my husband insisting the tree be by her chair/window, not worth the danger. Since I didn't get them out, all but one of the cloisonne didn't make it out either, I didn't unpack the tote they're all in. There was a goldfish one at World Market, it's going under the tree. Have to get my own presents for my husband to give me. I love weird things too, so my tree is strange under examination. Here's a couple things.
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That thing under the polka dot fish is a Yowies Series 5 cuttlefish with a small eyebolt and glitter added, and slightly brightened paint. I got an army of them and made a school of Christmas ornaments.

Great glass ornaments Jill! That hyena is just spectacular. 

Excellent ornaments Kelly! I have the dodo also.  I loce your cuttlefish ornament(s) and Queenie's chair! (I recognized it from another photo you have shared)

Lovely glass ornaments, you definitely can't go wrong with that delicate shiny look! The Hyena is very sweet!
And I love your love of weird things Kelly, loads of wonderful fish on your tree!

Very beautiful cloisonnés collection Jill!

 Your Christmast Chameleon and hyena are very nice Pipsxich! 

such a gorgeous hyena Jill !

and I love that angler fish! and the dodo Pipsxich, I reckon your tree is amazing

Thank you all!

Kelly, I love those! This reminds me that I have a tiny cloisonne fish somewhere, I wonder where he went. I love the angler fish and the really creative idea to use duplicate figures as ornaments.

Here are a few of mine. I only got to put up a few this year and don't have time to unpack the others... these are the few that I insisted on. 
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A special glass one I bought from a local budding (now locally famous) artist.
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And then my armadillo. :) And my Mom's Christmas puppy.
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I live at home so my Mom decides on the tree decor and this year she developed a new theme. This first one was inherited from her grandmother and is very special to her.
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The tree is mostly birds and the color theme is blue/silver/white. She has old fashioned ones that her mom made for her and she has bought modern ones too (foam-ish material, ceramic, etc.). All themed around that one special bird from her grandmother.
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Beautiful decorations, I love the shot of the little puppy!

Wonderful ornaments! I love that armadillo, and the bird theme. And the sasquatches. I haven't got any cryptids on my tree!

I don't either! Very funny sasquatches!

Merry Christmas Eve! It's been a busy holiday season of course, so I'll probably be posting most of my ornaments AFTER Christmas, but here's a little festive addition. My wooden ornaments are mostly flat woodcuts, with one exception. The okapi is from White Oak Conservation Center in Florida, which I had the amazing opportunity to visit during a red wolf SSP convention. The ray is from the Outer Banks in North Carolina, and the two salamanders are from etsy. I was excited to find these two species because I work with both marbled and red salamanders, native to our area. And the zebra figure was a gift!

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Gorgeous! Those salamanders though...

Those salamanders are lovely!

Here's the cloissone goldfish from World Market that was wrapped as a gift. And I got a good paycheck, so the cloissone Oranda goldfish is on it's way from eBay. (seller dinorobot's photo)
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