One of These Things is Not Like the Other

All good things must come to an end, and this weekend marked the official stripping of the Christmas decorations from my house.  I'm sure I'm at least 2-3 weeks behind most people, but I had to wait until at least after New Year's, then threw in another week for good measure :)  Plus I think the Christmas tree really fills in that corner of the living room nicely, so I wasn't too eager to get rid of it.

Since we got married, my husband and I buy a new penguin ornament each year as part of a little tradition we started.  Penguins mate for life, so we thought it was cute and fitting to add to the tree with a new little "mascot" every Christmas.  I showed our collection here last year, and I was eager to start the search for our official 2011 ornament.  I had to chuckle as I was pulling all of the ornaments off the tree this weekend--I'd had some trouble finding a penguin this season, but my husband had come home from Christmas shopping one day, proud to show off his "find" for the tree.  Can you tell which one he picked?

Seriously.  One of these things is definitely not like the others.  At first I didn't say anything because I was so impressed that he took the time to search this little guy out, and then stood in line for fifteen minutes to pay for it.  Then, I gently suggested that maybe it didn't quite 'go' with the rest of the tree.  He agreed, and said I could do whatever with it, he was just trying to help out.  If you've seen my Christmas tree, you'll notice that there's no way this chubby creature fits with the rest of the theme, but over the course of the season, he kind of grew on me.  So I decided that this would indeed be our 2011 mascot, and in future years I could just hide him in the branches somewhere :).  Of course after the fact, I did manage to get my hands on two penguins, one with a silver tummy, and a frosted one that my mom gave me, both much more suited to my decor.  Oh well--I think a little bit of humor this year adds nicely to our tradition!

With all the Christmas boxes now neatly packed and tucked away for next year, I'm looking forward to a few giggles when I crack open the decorations next year.  The living room does look so empty though......what to put in that now empty corner where the tree was......?