Comments

  1. noncarborundum says

    The Star Trek one is a must-have.

    One? I count three (Guardian of Forever; Borg cube; original Enterprise). I want them all.

  2. Nadai says

    According to Memory Alpha, the Star Trek ones are Hallmark ornaments – the Borg cube was released in 2000, the Guardian of Forever in 2004, and the original Enterprise in either 1991 or 1995.

    This year’s ornaments are a TNG Enterprise and a scene from the Wrath of Khan.

    I apologize in advance if my links don’t work. I suck at HTML.

  3. says

    Some more Expelled footage is out. No PZ in this footage unfortunately, but we DO get Dawkins saying:

    “As a scientist, I am pretty… hostile to, a rival doctrine…”

    Something tells me we’re sort of missing some key lines from the beginning and end of that thought…

  4. David Farley says

    PZ liked my tree! :)

    Nadai is right, but the original Enterprise is not the light-up one (which is now rare and expensive) but the pewter ornament that was part of a set with a base from 1996. I don’t have the set – just the Enterprise ornament.

    For those who want their own ammonite, I got it at the Fernbank Museum in Atlanta over Thanksgiving.

  5. Beth says

    These pics are great! I’m always looking out for animal ornaments – I’m trying to get my Solstice tree to look like the “tree of life”. Can’t believe I don’t have a cephalopod yet!

  6. Bee says

    David, that’s a lovely and opulent tree. I really like the crab, and the astronaut with (I’m guessing) Laika reposing at his feet. Oh, and all the rest, too.

  7. Josh says

    Squidmas tree of your dreams? I figured such a “tree” would be decidedly more…squidlike. How about a tree skirt that looks like a mass of rubbery tentacles? There should be a pair of large, light-up “eye” ornaments, too.

  8. says

    Every year’s tree has to surpass last years Josh: you’ve got to give David someplace to go next year instead of just having the coolest ever right off the bat. :)

  9. says

    Wow, that is an amazing tree! I like the critters – chicks, eagle, hammerhead shark, fish, ammonite, grasshopper, little green crab, wiggly things, and that lovely gilded octopus and armored (reticulated?) lizard. The original trees had fruit on them to remind them that they were supposed to shake off that winter nonsense and start producing again, so a “tree of life” could actually be quite traditional.

    I didn’t recognize the Borg cube specifically. I thought it might be a time cube.

    Very neat!

  10. David Farley says

    Thanks everybody.

    Bee, the astronaut is another Hallmark – it’s supposed to be Neil Armstrong (he talks!). I have to start looking for a Laika ornament for next year.

    Until I found the octopus, I thought the spider was going to be the big find for this year.

  11. D. Sidhe says

    Very nice tree. I have the octopus and the shark, too, got them at the Seattle Aquarium. They’ve been hanging on my bedroom wall until I get my tree up. The nautilus, though, I’m going to have to be on the lookout for one of those.

  12. ctenotrish, FCD says

    Great stuff! I like the green crab the best – where did you find it? I’d love to have one on my tree!

  13. ctenotrish, FCD says

    Oh, my comment above was directed at David, who apparently HAS the green crab on his tree. :)

  14. Caitlin says

    Hope I’m not too late to ask a question of David!

    Where did you get the lemur? All I want for Squidmas is a lemur ornament.

  15. Sengkelat says

    For those looking for ornaments, I suggest searching eBay.

    My favorites:
    Lobster
    Octopus

    I have several of the ornaments from that Squidmas tree, but the first image, the octopus, is great. I must have it.

  16. David Farley says

    Caitlin – I got the lemur last year at the Christkindlmarket at Daley Plaza in Chicago. Unfortunately, I don’t know the name of the shop or who made it, except that it’s German.

  17. says

    Lucy, I’ll remember that image when someone asks, “But why do you read?”

    I think the decorated plastic critters would be fairly easy to make. They look like toy-shop models that have been sprayed with thin glue, then dipped into tiny glass beads (like the ones that optometrists heat glasses in so that they can bend the earpieces), and then had a few larger rhinestones glued on for extra sparkle. Of course it’s easier just to pay the $15.