Over the last few years, I’ve built a small collection of sock monkeys, starting with Christmas Sock Monkey, who has appeared in this journal many times, sometimes with his monkey friends. It’s been months since my sock monkey family grew, though; the last addition was Pocket Monkey, who was a gift from Mr. Karen this past March. These days, I still notice sock monkeys in stores, but I take photos instead of buying them.

For instance, I did not buy this monkey with my university’s logo emblazoned on his chest. He was much larger than any of the monkeys I have, and I thought they’d be scared of him. Also, this one neither sits nor stands nicely without much propping being needed, and I need monkeys who don’t require fussing.

Speaking of larger monkeys, I did not buy either of these gigantic ones that showed up at my grocery store when they stocked their Christmas gifts section. One thing I have fun doing with my monkeys is taking them on trips, and I would probably have to buy a seat if I wanted to take one of these on a plane with me.

I did not buy any of the sock monkeys in the Meijer Christmas section, either, especially not the red one, which looks suspiciously like a bear despite its label quite clearly saying it’s a monkey.

The most recent monkey I did not buy was this huge and slouchy one I saw on Black Friday. I was more tempted by this one that the grocery store ones, as this one is striped all over, and that made it look more fun. Plus, it seemed to have more personality than most monkeys.

I can’t say I’ll never buy another sock monkey, but for now just taking photos of them seems to satisfy the collector in me without adding to the clutter in my house (this approach does not work anywhere near as well for nail polish as it does for sock monkeys, unfortunately).

On this date in 2012: On Shimmer and Glitter
2011: No entry
2010: No entry
2009: November Check-in
2008: No entry
2007: No entry
2006: Many Pictures, Few Words
2005: No entry
2004: No entry
2003: Memory Lane
2002: Ugly on the Inside