It is the end of January and like every year I end up with a Christmas Tree Ornament separate from the Christmas stuff. I think it began the Christmas of 2000. My husband’s sister gave us a Christmas Tree ornament for Christmas. It was a Lenox ornament. It is a snow flake made of gold metal and china. The china is on top of the metal. At the time of this posting I don’t have a picture of it because it IS put up with the Christmas stuff and I didn’t know I was going to be posting about my ornaments. I might be able to find a picture eventually. (01.31.11, I found a picture with the first ornament in it. It is not a great shot because it was of the entire tree. I cropped it.) Anyway, this ornament started my love of Lenox ornaments. I went online and discovered they have a lot of Christmas Tree ornaments. They even have a club that you can join and you receive an annual Snow Flake.
I always admire my snowflakes. Every time I put them out I grab one and I say, “Oh, this year is my favorite.” Then I pick up another one and say, “No, THIS is my favorite.” Then I pick up the next one . . . and well, you can see where this is going.
The annual ornament is delivered after the first of the year and it never fails no matter how late into January that we pack up our Christmas stuff the ornament arrives after all the boxes are up. So I always end up with at least that one waiting around all year to be put with the other Christmas stuff. One year I forgot about it entirely and it didn’t make it on the tree OR even up with the Christmas stuff until the follow year.
This year when I received my ornament I opened it with all the excitement one has when receiving a gift and I was disappointed. The shape is nice and the sparkles on it are red and green, which is fine. But the gold painted on the ornaments is haphazard and careless. It states that it has been hand painted. I thought the reason for advertising something was hand painted was to explain the care that went into the product and to astonish people with the beautiful skill, not be an excuse for a job poorly done. I am saddened. Here I normally love the quality that comes from Lenox and this is very sub par. I am disappointed.
This latest snowflake has me wondering . . . . if this is the direction the product is headed it might be the last year I accept it. It is one of those clubs where they send you a product and you can send it back. You don’t have to keep it. Even though it is not that great I am going to keep it, because it is part of the collection. When I told my husband about it, the first thing he asked was, “Are you going to keep it?” When I said yes, he looked at my as if to say “then why are you wasting my time telling me about it?”
I have been buying the annual ornament for ten years, I will give them next year. If the same poor quality comes out then I will cancel. My hubby said there was also no point in contacting the company to explain my dis-satisfaction. I am not entirely convinced that is true, but he caused me to think it would be a waste of time. So, I am just sharing it here. As I often do.
Do you have a club that you belong to where you receive a product? Have you belonged to a club where you have seen the quality of the product decline? It is a bummer.
Terre Pruitt's Blog 