The Christmas Pin Dilemma

[TheTwins]

With just about a week to go until Christmas arrives, we’ve all been decking our halls with boughs of holly . . . or an equally cheery equivalent. (Our holly bushes stay outside, safely away from Henry, our kitty cat.) We’ve got standard spaces in the house for our traditional Christmas decor, but has anyone else struggled with the dilemma of finding a fun way to display their Christmas pins? We did. In fact, we didn’t even collect many until last year, because we didn’t know what to do with them. Which is why I thought it’d be fun to spotlight a few cool pins and ideas in this post at this most festive time of year!

 

Advent Calendar Trees
Let’s start with the old Disney Catalog Advent Tree pin sets that started in 2002. These were quite a unique idea which included a wooden tree on a wooden base, complete with a “tree topper” pin. The 2006 tree is a revolving music box, playing From All of Us to All of You! (Not sure if the earlier ones are as well, but if you have it and know the answer, please let us know.) There are small pre-drilled holes on the trees, making it easy to stick the pin post in there without damaging the pin. Collectors purchased four-pin sets, released weekly, to fill the tree and count down the twenty-four days before Christmas. You can check out the trees and their pins in the database here:

 

 

The Advent Calendar Tree pins are quite interesting, because they used a lot of art and design that you don’t generally see in pins. In fact, every design in the 2003 set dates to art from the 1930s, either from animated shorts or a 1935 Disney Studios Christmas card. Donald is even seen with his original, old-fashioned elongated beak. Gotta love that.

 

 

But what happens when you can’t get all the pins for your tree? Time to come up with a pin-nerrific solution, right?! A friend gave us the 2006 tree and Tink tree-topper pin, but that left twenty-four holes to fill. Since we didn’t have enough Christmas pins of the right size, we decided to use Munchlings pins. They’re very colorful (sort of like ornaments) and fit into the spots just great. Here’s a picture of our tree, and if anyone has done something else with theirs, we’d love to hear about it.

 

 

 

Advent Calendars vs. 12-day Countdowns
Pardon me, while I take a quick bunny trail to clarify the idea of Advent Calendars and Countdown Calendars. Disney releases many Advent Calendars and 12-day Countdowns each year, including everything from pins to plush to mini lightsabers. Irritatingly, they are almost all listed as “Advent Calendars”. But they’re not. Advent is a grand time in the church calendar that technically starts on the fourth Sunday before Christmas, at the end of November. However, when you’re purchasing a day-by-day Advent calendar, they usually consist of twenty-four surprises; one for each day of December leading up to Christmas Day.

 

There are also quite a lot of 12-day “Countdown Calendars” released these days (often incorrectly labeled as Advent Calendars), and explained as being the twelve days leading up to Christmas Day. That drives me a bit crazy, because a 12-day calendar is supposed to be for the Twelve Days of Christmas, which begin with Christmas Day. The final day is Epiphany (January 6th), celebrating the arrival of the Three Magi and their gifts to Baby Jesus.

 

If you want to have a lot of cheer, get an Advent Calendar and a 12-day Countdown, and you’ll be opening something from December 1st through January 6th!

 

 

Christmas Pin Display Ideas
Anyway, enough noodling, so let’s get back to solving the Christmas pin dilemma. The problem with Christmas pins is . . . they’re like potato chips and popcorn. You can’t have just one. They multiply. A bit like rabbits.

 

The wooden trees are all fine and dandy, but only twenty-four pins of a certain size fit on there. You can keep your Christmas pins in a pin book or binder (which works great during most of the year), but that’s hard to show off when all the sparkly decor comes out of plastic tubs to deck the halls and walls. Last year, we ended up mounting a pin board in the Living Room and changing it out for the season to hold just the Christmas pins. We hadn’t been collecting them very long, so there was room for decor. Not so sure about that anymore, but you get the picture!

 

 

 

Sis and I aren’t on Social Media, so we missed the “pin tree” trend this year. However, some of our friends managed to get to their Home Goods and/or Marshalls stores to find some really cool options for their displays. Thanks to @mamadin for this picture that shows her new pin tree. This one is on a hollow cone-shaped base with “boughs” of thick, layered felt. The pins don’t even need their pin backs to stay in place.

 

 

 

Not everyone was able to find these great trees at their local stores, though, but @Jacks Girl came up with a fabulous solution that handles a large amount of pins in a very festive way. And for any of us with cats, this has a bit of added fun in repurposing something from the pet department. Take a look at this four-layered cat scratching Christmas tree! It’s quite heavy and stands four-feet tall. If you have kitties in the house, putting a tree skirt or blanket around the base definitely helps to discourage them from checking things out too closely.

 

Click any photo to enlarge.

 

The photos above show the tree as it came, then once it’s all decorated. The light strings are actually held on with decorative push pins that give the look of pearly ornaments, and that’s a Mickey Mouse tree topper with moveable arms gracing the highest level. During the rest of the year (when her pins aren’t on this twinkling wonder), @Jacks Girl keeps them in a couple of pin books for safe storage.

 

While I don’t have photos to share, I know that @buzz2001 has framed a number of his Christmas pins and changes out frames on the wall during the Christmas season. And @powerstitch displays his pins mounted on artfully covered cereal boxes inside plastic cereal box display cases. One side has regular pin themes, and the other side has Holiday pins. When it’s time for Christmas (or Easter, Thanksgiving, Valentine’s Day, etc.), he can flip the appropriate displays around, and voila! Tagging both of you here, in hopes that you’ll share some photos of your great pins.
 

These are just some of the creative solutions to the “Christmas Pin Dilemma” that we’ve heard about in the past year. If you’d like to share your methods in a reply here, please do. We’re always looking for new ways to display and enjoy pins.

 

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas!
~ Sarah

[buzz2001]

These are the frames and other Disney items we swap out for the holiday season.

 

 

[ViciousLady]

I was very inspired by others this year to cobble together this little felt tree so I could display some Lady and the Tramp Christmas pins. I know there's a whole great series of the countdown jumbo pins with the built in stand. 

Thank you to @TheTwins for pointing out the difference between the 12 days of Christmas and the Advent Calendars, and of course for showcasing all these great Holiday pins. We always celebrate the 6th of January with a little token gift, and for us it's the marker to turn off the Christmas lights outside and pack it up until next year. 

 

@Jacks Girl I was absolutely mesmerized by your pin tee during the Holiday party, it's SO beautifully done, what a fantastic display! 

@buzz2001 All your decor is amazing, but your mantle makes me feel so warm and fuzzy, absolutely wonderful! 

 

[sithathoriunet]

I jumped on the felt tree bandwagon this year, to display the Merry Stitchmas mystery pin set.  I don't collect Stitch, really, just this set, so I think it will be put away with the rest of the holiday decorations when those get boxed up, hopefully before Valentine's Day. 

[ViciousLady]

@sithathoriunet I don't collect Pluto anymore either, but that Pluto's Christmas Tree Mystery Set that came out this year was SO tempting, it's hard to stay strong in the face of so many gorgeous pins. I think your Stitch set looks SO cute on that tree. (I feel like I always miss something when I pack up all the Holiday stuff, I found a Halloween decoration when I was putting up Christmas this year.)

[sithathoriunet]

I do the same thing, @ViciousLady!  In fact, I ran across some forgotten Easter decorations while I was setting up Christmas this year. 

That Pluto's Christmas Tree mystery set is SO gosh darn cute.  I am trying to trade for it, cause I have no willpower, but only the 5 pins that are Chip and Dale without any other characters.  That way, I can have them on display all year with my C & D collection.