Christmas Ornaments: It's A Wonderful Life

These ornaments, which celebrate one of the best films ever made, are two of my faves. I look forward to putting them on the tree each year, as I do so many others. (Surprise, surprise!) I actually have some more "It's A Wonderful Life" ornaments that I love and will have to profile another time. At one time, I even did an IAWL-themed tree.

These two ornaments are both from Hallmark (another shocker, I know). Target and Walgreens have done IAWL decorations (including ornaments) at some point in the last decade or so. Target even had a Christmas village based on the movie. I started to collect some of the pieces but then decided it was too much and sold them on eBay. Target also had some dolls designed after the main characters. I had some of those, too, but sold them.

But back to the ornaments ... The ornament pictured above was done to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the motion picture, which came out in 1946. So ... if you do the math ... you will figure out that the ornament is from 1996. I was working for a newspaper at the time and did a feature story on the film and the big milestone. I was able to interview Karolyn Grimes, who played Zuzu in the movie, and Jimmy Hawkins, who played Tommy. How exciting to actually talk to both of these people! They were so nice, too.

Anyway, I knew I had to have the ornament as soon as I saw it. It depicts the closing scene from the film, with George and Mary Bailey by the Christmas tree. George is holding Zuzu, who is pointing to the bell ornament on the tree that just rang. You know the famous line that she says next--and in case you don't, it's printed on the back of the ornament. See for yourself:



There is actually a real bell--that rings and everything--in the ornament's base, so ornament owners can give out wings at their discretion. The details on this ornament are fantastic. I love it. I usually place it in a prominent position on the tree.



Another IAWL ornament by Hallmark is this one from 1991. It is a movie-theatre that is showing "It's A Wonderful Life." It actually lights up, but I didn't have it plugged in for the photo.



I wanted this ornament for a long time before I got it. This was in the mid-1990s, and I searched eBay and second-hand ornament sources high and low for it before I finally caved and paid $50 for it! YES, true story. That is a lot of money for a Christmas ornament, but it was especially a lot of money for a college student (or recent college graduate) back in the day. Anyway, not long after I made this big purchase, I was at a Junior League Bag-a-Bargain sale. Can you believe I found THREE of this exact same ornament--NIB--for only $3 each?! I sure did! I felt like a kid in a candy store as I snatched them all up. I kept at least one (maybe two?) for myself. I gave one away and sold the other to make back my money for buying that expensive one. I still can't believe I came across those, as they were very hard to find.