At last, we're kickin' off the Christmas season!

Tick…tock…tick…tock…

Dear readers and followers, we are coming toward the one-year milestone, and fast! It feels good to know that I’ve been doing it for this long…One full year. I can scarcely believe it myself!

I’m not quite sure what to say about it, except that the idea of the anniversary has given me pause to think about some New Year’s resolutions for the Museum.

First, I resolve to make the place a little more state-of-the-art in 2014. You’ll start to see a video-review or two alongside the text articles.

Second, I resolve to at least try to develop the “Mr. Millennium” character a little better. He’s supposed to be an over-the-top showman/museum curator, and when he first appeared in October or so with the M&Ms dispenser, I kind of threw the costume together from whatever bits I could find (the 2000 tie, a waistcoat, and a shirt).

The result…didn’t look very much like a showman, but I was trying to aim for something along the lines of Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor--that is to say, a “totally tasteless” costume with loud, clashing colors.

Third, I resolve to design a building for the Museum. I’ve got something a little bit Times Square-themed in mind (New Year’s Eve, get it?)… 

Ah, but you don’t want to sit around listening to me pontificating about the future of the site, huh?

No, you’re absolutely right! Let's open the Christmas season with a bang! I have here TWO items! (You'll see why in just a little bit. ;) )

I found this for $2 last year at a doll show in Tinley Park, IL. It’s made to look like an angel with wings and halo (though this honestly looks more like a headband). She wears a rather beautiful dress of burgundy velveteen and holds in her hand a plush star. The word “HOPE” is emblazoned on the dress; on the star, “2000.” Better still, it doubles as a tree ornament!

This little bear represents a very interesting start to the Museum’s first actual holiday season. Take her burgundy dress: it sits between red and purple. It’s like the Millennium Bear, with its magenta plush, but this time it sits a little more on the darker side of the cross between warmth and uncertainty. Perhaps it’s best not to read too much into the color, because burgundy, like forest green and the white fur of the bear, is a “winter” color. In any case, the word “HOPE,” embroidered in gold on the front of the dress, offsets the uncertainty.

The bear’s white fur represents light and purity…it is an angel, after all.

The star is the Christmas star that goes on top of the tree. It says “2000” because Christmas 1999 was the last real holiday of the old millennium, and the time has come to make new Christmas memories as the clock strikes midnight a week later.

I also found this at the same doll show as the bear above. This little periodical was published throughout the 90s up until the early 2000s. Interestingly enough, the publisher, Publications International, no longer does specialty magazines like this. Instead, it now handles book sales (e.g. children's activity books, etc.). The cover price is listed as $4.99; I swiped this off a table marked "Free--Take One." It was practically calling out to me!

Since the publisher is no longer active, and since this is more than ten years old, I'll make a Christmas present of this and reproduce half of it for this year's celebration. (The next half--the actual ornaments--will come later.)