This holiday season, the Monkeyville theme is CHEER and the monkeys are
ready to start going out and spreading CHEER everywhere The theme is
also sparkles because I found some awesome sparkly socks that are
perfect for the holidays and there's a bit of Dr. Seuss style whimsy thrown in too, because everything is better when done in the Seuss style. CHEER isn't an acronym, it's just a special
feeling that usually comes this time of year. It's non-denominational,
open to everyone, and just plain happy. I think it's best described as
that feeling you get when it snows for the first time (for real, not
freaky snow in October). Who doesn't feel like a little kid when the
snow starts to fall for that first time and the world turns all white
and pretty because all the grungy stuff of regular life is covered by
the snowy blanket?
Last year, the monkeys spread CHEER just on Etsy. This year, they have two ways of spreading CHEER! The monkeys are still spreading CHEER on Etsy (and there are lots of monkeys coming!) but also right here in Monkeyville (AKA: North Attleboro, MA) at
The Artful Phoenix! This is the monkey's first holiday season in a real store, so they're VERY excited about that. In fact, they got so excited that they wanted to help Melissa and Jan with the decorations!
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Photo courtesy of The Artful Phoenix, taken by Melissa Santsaver
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Dotty, the giant monkey (a Monkeez monkey I believe) wanted to help out
as well, and that's a good thing, she was much taller than the
Monkeyville monkeys and could reach all the high branches.Under Dotty's
direction, the monkeys set to work on getting the window display looking
as cheerful as possible.
The first step, was getting the tree up and lights strung. Tackling the tree would be hard for the normal sized Monkeyville monkeys, but it was Dotty to the rescue! The rest of the monkeys supervised and made sure that the tree was nice and straight. Then, it was time for the lights! I think the monkeys got a bit carried away with decorating, because they strung lights on Dotty too!
Of course, being monkeys, they had to goof off a bit too!
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| photo courtesy of The Artful Phoenix, taken by Melissa Santsaver |
"Look at me!" Snowbert jumped into the tree and hung by his tail. This was just the start of monkey sillyness. If you have a Christmas tree at home, it's probably not a good idea to let sock monkeys decorate it! I hope Dotty wasn't feeling left out since she was a bit too big toget up to such shenanigans!
Of course, a holiday window display isn't complete with just some lights and a tree, at least not for these monkeys! These monkeys had BIG ideas. They worked hard to make this holiday display a very special one, and one that would be sure to catch the eye of the busy shoppers walking (or driving) down North Washington street!
They picked their favorite ornaments to decorate the tree:
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| photo courtesy of The Artful Phoenix, taken by Melissa Santsaver, ornament by Martha Maynard |
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| photo courtesy of The Artful Phoenix, taken by Melissa Santsaver ornament by Elizabeth Anne Haney |
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| photo courtesy of The Artful Phoenix, taken by Melissa Santsaver ornament by Linda Richardson |
All of the artists had been working hard on making cool ornaments for the holidays, so there were lots and lots to choose from. They had been working so hard, the monkeys got another tree so everything wouldn't get too crowded.
There were even a few monkey ornaments!
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| photo courtesy of The Artful Phoenix, taken by Melissa Santsaver |
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| photo courtesy of The Artful Phoenix, taken by Melissa Santsaver |
Not many though, because there were full sized monkeys to be made and sent to their new homes. The window was still missing something, so the monkeys ran around the store gathering a bunch of cool toys.
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| photo courtesy of The Artful Phoenix, taken by Melissa Santsaver, dragon pull toy by Tom Seal |
Of course, the monkeys had to play with the toys as well. They are monkeys after all. Plus, it's not like the chance to ride a really cool dragon comes around all the time, you have to take the chance when it comes along.
Once everything was in place, the monkeys took a break and called all the people in to look at their work.
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| photo courtesy of The Artful Phoenix, taken by Melissa Santsaver |
Yep, that's definitely a memorable and eye catching window display. I think the Artful Phoenix will be the only shop in North Attleboro with an upside down Christmas tree.
