Friday, December 11, 2009

Snowshoeing Rabbit Is Rarin' to Go

Every year, I love perusing the ornaments in Hallmark and admiring most of them, particularly those dealing with Peanuts or Disney. Winnie the Pooh is a particular point of interest. Most years, there are several adorable Pooh ornaments. But for fans of the tubby little cubby and his friends, I’m not sure there’s ever been as great a year for ornaments as 1993 - or maybe that‘s just the way it seemed to me because that year, I received almost every Pooh ornament that Hallmark made.

In 1993, Hallmark created a series of ornaments featuring Pooh and several other residents of the Hundred Acre Wood carousing in winter revelry using what look to be homemade implements. This one is Rabbit, who is dashing through the snow, off, no doubt, on some important enterprise. If all the ornaments in this particular series were lined up as a parade of figures, I would imagine go-getter Rabbit in the front, cheerfully barking out instructions to everyone else.

While the Pooh ornament is on skis, Rabbit wears snowshoes, though they look suspiciously like pans. There are no straps holding Rabbit’s feet in, so I’m not quite sure how they’re staying put, but it doesn’t seem to be a problem for him, nor does he mind using his pans in such an unconventional way. I presume, of course, that he isn’t planning to use them for cooking; I can’t imagine someone as fastidious as Rabbit agreeing to put food in an object that once contained his foot!

Rabbit’s textured fur is a light buttery yellow, except for his fluffy white tail and the large white patch running up the middle of his front to his face. If Pooh seems a little underdressed with a mere three articles of clothing, Rabbit’s got to be downright freezing in nothing but a red scarf. But he shows no sign of being uncomfortable. Every feature screams enthusiasm and readiness.

His long ears stream behind him, their insides pale pink. His large nose is pink as well; so is the inside of his sculpted mouth, which is in a wide smile. He has fairly bushy black eyebrows and tiny black pupils with tinier white pinpricks set in large white eyes. The left pupil is on the right side of the eye and the right pupil is on the left side, giving him a slightly crazed look. Meanwhile, his arms are both bent at the elbows, with the hands balled into fists. The left foot is on the ground, while the right is behind him at a graceful angle, giving the appearance that he is skating.

Rabbit stands about three inches tall, and it’s about two inches from the front of the left snowshoe to the back of the right snowshoe. He stands pretty well on the left snowshoe as long as he’s in a place where he’s not likely to be jostled. The loop for the hook is between his ears, and as long as you can find a spot with a little space between branches, hanging him up is no problem.

As with Pooh, Rabbit is not interactive, but Hallmark has many Pooh ornaments that are, so if you want lights, sound and motion, buy one of those instead. If you want a fun tribute to this particular character, Rabbit is a wonderful ornament, and the lack of bells and whistles makes him pretty affordable, too; he sells online for under $15. He may be at his happiest while planting in spring and harvesting in fall, but slap some snowshoes on this bunny and boy, can he have a blast in winter too!

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