The Peanuts Gang Has a Snow Day in the Christmastime Is Here! Ornament

A Charlie Brown Christmas, the first of many Peanuts specials, includes plenty of iconic moments: the kids dancing as Schroeder debuts Linus and Lucy, Linus explaining what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown bemoaning the apparent demise of his bedraggled Christmas tree. Before any of that comes along, however, we have the blissful scene of the children basking in the pristine beauty of a winter wonderland to the tune of the wistful Christmastime Is Here.

That scene is the subject of the 2011 Hallmark ornament of the same name. One of this year's most expensive ornaments at $35, it is also one of the largest and most complex. On a circular sky blue base about 1.75 inches high and 3.75 inches in diameter, a scene of glittery enchantment unfolds. "Christmastime is here!" declare the words on the base, making it obvious which way the ornament should be turned, though the placement of the landmarks suggests it as well.

In the back, we have Snoopy's red doghouse, its roof covered in snow, toward the right and a snowman in a green scarf toward the left. Snow-covered trees rest to both the left and right near the front, and an especially tall one stands directly in the middle with the loop for the ornament hook at the top, looking almost like a traditional tree-topping star. The snow is white and thick, with a generous sprinkling of sparkles.

Five characters appear on this ornament, none of them standing much more than an inch in height. On a round track circling the central tree, we have Charlie brown in his brown cap, red coat and black pants stretched out on a wooden toboggan. In front of him is Linus in a green cap and black sweater, happily seated inside a cardboard box, and leading the procession - at least, depending how you look at it - is Snoopy cruising along in his red supper dish, with Woodstock perched on the fuzzy brim of his Santa hat. Finally, Lucy, clad in a pale blue dress and matching cap, has a tiny pond to herself, and she looks uncommonly graceful as she stands poised with one white skate on the ice and another in the air.

Each of the characters is smiling, though Snoopy and Woodstock's cheerful expressions are difficult to decipher under their large snouts. Clearly, though, this is a very placid scene, and it becomes even more charming when you pull the string dangling from the bottom of the base with a small plastic snowflake at the end. At this point, Lucy twirls in place, while the four characters surrounding her circle her as the first verse of Christmastime Is Here plays. The string lasts longer than the song does, so after the children's voices fade, you will most likely still see some movement before it winds down entirely.

Each of the figures is intricately detailed, making this ornament gorgeous to look at but not one that is ideal for tree-hanging. The ornament on the whole is heavy and bulky, likely to weigh down a typical evergreen branch, while the tiny figures might get dwarfed or damaged as they hang on the tree. This battery-operated ornament created by Hallmark artist Tracy Larsen seems much more suited to shelf-sitting; while you will have to pick it up in order to pull the string and get the magic going, it works fine if you immediately set it down on the shelf again afterward.

Every year, Hallmark releases oodles of ornaments that I would readily snatch up if I had an inexhaustible supply of money and tree space. The Peanuts ones are harder for me to resist than most, and Christmastime Is Here! is one of the most enchanting of those ornaments yet.