The 25 Baubles of Pop Culture! Advent 2022 Day 11

Though dinosaurs pre-dated Christ, that doesn't mean that they don't enjoy the holidays either. Here's a look at some Christmas ornaments inspired by the 1993 Steven Spielberg classic and the film franchise it spawned.

To start, we go with the king of the thunder lizards- the T-Rex. This 2019 magic ornament from Hallmark recreates the closing battle of the first film. Just when the heroes of that movie thought that they were going to become raptor food, the T-Rex swooped in and saved the day. As the dinosaur claimed victory, a banner fluttered down proclaiming 'When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth.' With this ornament, one only has to press a button playing the beautiful John Williams theme.

Next one I want to share is this 2021 Hallmark ornament. Thanks to the nostalgia of VHS tapes, Hallmark has been releasing a number of trinkets based on the cassettes. Since watching the film at home on my VCR was how I first experienced the movie, I wanted to share my memories of the classic with this decoration that could be bought at any local Wal-
Mart or Target store. 

From the DIY department, those of you wanting to make your own Jurassic Park ornament, all you need is a tiny Christmas tree, some hot glue, a ribbon or hook and a matchbox car. See, what you do is take one of the many different types of vehicles based on the film series (in this case, a Jeep), hot glue a tiny tree, found at any craft store, to the top or back of the car and it looks like the staff on Isla Nublar are getting ready for the holidays!

Want to personalize your Jurassic Park ornaments? Try this colorful ceramic ornament found on Etsy. There's a lot of great handmade baubles on Etsy but I think this one is my favorite. With that recognizable font and sleek design of a T-Rex skull surrounded by a brightly light wreath, I felt that if Jurassic Park was a real place, these would be the ornaments that they'd sell in the gift shop. I can just see a spinner rack full of names from A-Z selling these. 

Before I close this look at Jurassic Park, I want to help those of you who are fans of Jeff Goldblum. If you can't get enough of Dr. Ian Malcolm, have I found an ornament for you!!! It's a framed needlepoint ornament of Goldblum in his semi-shirtless pose that has become a meme until itself along with one of the character's most famous quotes- 'Life finds a way.'

The 25 Baubles of Pop Culture! Advent 2022 Day 1

I spent a lot of this summer cleaning out the extra rooms in our house. It was from one of those cleaning excursions that I got my inspiration for this year's Advent: a look at pop culture themed Christmas ornaments!

The first ornament of this Advent came from my very own collection. Actually, I think it was in my grandmama's possession at one point. But when she passed in 1992, it was one of several I inherited from her and added to my family tree. 

What you see here is a 1982 E.T. satin ball ornament. For the longest time, I thought that this was a Hallmark ornament. But the producer is listed as Universal Studios. So my family could have gotten this at Brendle's or K-Mart or Sears for all I know...

The shrink-wrapped sleeve was indicative of ornaments of the time period. However, other than the green and red coloring of the borders and the E.T. logo, this isn't a real festive ornament. The image of E.T. and that of he and Elliot's fingers symbolically touching aren't Christmas related at all. Look at this swatch of wrapping paper, you can see how pop culture franchises interacting with the spirit of Christmas is one of my favorite things. I just wish ornaments like these followed suit.