Y is for Yule Urchins!

Possibly my favourite animal if I had to choose one, and while there won't be a tree up for a fifth year, it hasn't stopped me looking for additions for the tree, and one of the themes became, not that many years ago, hedgehogs or hedgepigs, which used to be called urchins in medieval times, giving rise to sea-urchins, because they looked like land urchins!

 

This one came in a few weeks ago, found in Mark's & Spark's, it's a felt/wool body with metallic and sequinned 'spines' which aren't the most realistic, but give a good impression of a hedgehog anyway, and though rather large, he might have been the only one I found, so I grabbed him! He can go near the bottom of the tree, where the other bigger baubles end-up!

 

I then found two traditional glass ones in the same day (ostensively looking for a pair of shears!) in different garden centres, one from Gisela Graham, the other an outfit called Ascalon, and of which, one may be a duplicate (opposite sides of the tree when that happens, and facing the other way!), and then, most recently, about a week ago a layered felt one (who's also quite large) turned-up, branded to Kingfisher (owner of Screwfix), however, I think he came from The Range, but it might have been B&Q, although before the takeover announcement last week, so maybe they were already linked/working together?

 

Which gives us a line-up of four Hedgepigs, eagerly waiting their chance to shine on the tree, don't they all look happy! Childish, I know, but wasn't it the greatest Doctor of all time, Tom Baker, who said, upon being accused of being childish,  "I know, but what's the point of being a grown-up if you can't be childish from time to time"? And with a possible duplicate glassware one, and several similar nut-shell ones - Blog passim - about nine now, or three per 'turn'! Less than four weeks to Crimbo!

Hedgehogs are going extinct in the UK, and if you're looking for a charity cause this Christmas, please consider a Hedgehog charity - there are several - or your local Hedgehog sanctuary or rescue centre.