Sweet
Decade
A glittery candy snowman, a different sweet treat every year, and gumdrop digits that spell out the year in sugar. Six entries since 2020 — each one commemorating a year with the most cheerful snowman in the Keepsake catalog. Artist Tammy Haddix, 30 years at Hallmark, knew exactly what she was doing when she made the year numbers out of gumdrops.
Gumdrop Numbers, Glittery Snowmen, and Six Years of Sugary Style
The Sweet Decade series launched in 2020 as Hallmark's latest entry in a tradition of decade-themed annual snowman ornaments — following the Frosty Decade and Ice Decade series that collectors had been building across the preceding years. The concept is precise and charming: a glittery snowman who commemorates each year with the year's digits rendered in gumdrop candy, holding a different sweet treat every year. The 2020 founding entry features the year's digits as gumdrop numbers, the snowman in a jolly hat, holding a large yellow lollipop. Dated 2020. Tammy Haddix. 3.35" W × 2.45" H × 1.34" D.
The series is the most cheerful annual dated ornament in the Keepsake catalog — where the Christmas Commemorative series (also annual and dated) uses glass ball colors to commemorate each year, the Sweet Decade uses candy. Gumdrop numbers are simultaneously the year and a decoration, the date rendered in the most festive possible material. The snowman's outfit changes year to year — a jolly hat in 2020, a red beret in 2024, a purple scarf and blue earmuffs in 2025 — and each year brings a new sweet prop: lollipop, then candy cane, then whatever Tammy Haddix decides the snowman should be holding that December.
"Celebrate a year to remember — and the start of a new decade — with this first-in-series Christmas tree ornament. Each ornament in this new series will feature a sweet snowman who commemorates the year with sugary style. Featuring gumdrop numbers and a glittery snowman holding a lollipop, this new series is perfect for anyone with a sweet tooth."
— Hallmark product description, 2020 Sweet Decade #1 · Artist: Tammy Haddix · QXR9134 · 3.35" W × 2.45" HTammy Haddix — 30 Years of Making People Feel Something
Tammy Haddix has been a Hallmark artist for more than 30 years — more than 20 of them in the Keepsake Studio. In that time she has had countless conversations with collectors who share stories about her Christmas creations, and the emotional weight of those conversations is something she carries into every ornament she designs.
"A Keepsake Ornament is something so special that you keep it forever," she says. "Thinking about people bringing my ornaments out every year — I can't even describe how it feels. It's very touching and very emotional for me." The Sweet Decade series is a distillation of that philosophy: an ornament designed specifically to be brought out every year, the year's date built into the design so that it can never be confused with any other December, a glittery snowman in a new hat and a new candy, year after year, the tree calendar of a decade in sugar.
The Decade Snowman Tradition — Sweet Decade's Predecessors
Hallmark has produced multiple decade-themed annual snowman series over the years. The Frosty Decade and Ice Decade series preceded the Sweet Decade — each following the same format of a dated, glittery snowman commemorating the year. Collectors who completed those series often move directly to the Sweet Decade, building a continuous record of Decembers that spans multiple decades and multiple snowman characters. "I previously purchased the Frosty Decade and the Ice Decade," one collector noted on Hallmark's website. "I love them and my tree is almost covered with them now." The Sweet Decade is the current chapter of an ongoing Hallmark tradition.
Sweet Decade — 2020 (#1)
The founding Sweet Decade — a glittery candy snowman in a jolly hat holding a large yellow lollipop, standing amid gumdrop numbers that spell out 2020. Tammy Haddix. 3.35" W × 2.45" H × 1.34" D. Dated 2020. The premise is perfect: the year as candy, the snowman as the host of the year's celebration, the gumdrops as the most cheerful possible way to mark a date. "Celebrate a year to remember — and the start of a new decade." Five more years of candy followed. The series continues.
Shop Sweet Decade 2020 — First in Series →Tips for the Collection
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01Display all six in chronological order — 2020 through 2025 — to read the decade as a candy calendar. Six gumdrop years in a row on the tree: 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025. In sequence the series functions exactly as the Christmas Commemorative glass ball series does — as a calendar of years, each one visually distinct, each one dated — but in the cheeriest possible format. The gumdrop numbers make the progression immediately readable even at a distance.
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02The 2021 Special Edition (QPC5052) is the collection's rarest entry. A limited edition repaint of the #2 first available at a Hallmark event, the Special Edition exists in lower quantities than the numbered entries. For collectors building the complete set — all seven entries including the Special — it is the one most likely to require searching the secondary market. If you find it here, it's worth adding.
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03The Sweet Decade series pairs naturally with a grandchild's birth year. One reviewer confirms the obvious gifting strategy: "Aubree was born in 2014 and has received an ornament from this collection every year. I hope she enjoys them throughout her lifetime as much as Grandma enjoyed gifting them." Annual dated ornaments make long-term gifts — one per year from birth, the collection accumulating as the child accumulates years. The gumdrop numbers make each year immediately visible.
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04All 7 Sweet Decade entries — #1 through #6 and the 2021 Special Edition — are at Already Christmas. Six sugary years of Tammy Haddix's candy snowman, plus the rare event repaint. The series continues — the 2026 Sweet Decade has not yet been announced.
Every Sweet Decade Keepsake — 2020 to 2025
Gumdrop year digits · glittery snowman · different candy every year · Tammy Haddix. Click any year to shop.
A glittery snowman in a jolly hat holding a yellow lollipop in 2020 — the year spelled out in gumdrop digits beside him. Five more years of candy followed: more gumdrops, a red beret, a purple scarf and blue earmuffs, a candy cane. Tammy Haddix, 30 years at Hallmark, making ornaments people keep forever. Six sugary years and counting. The series continues. The 2026 candy has not yet been chosen.
✦ Part of our Collection: Hallmark Annual Commemorative Series, Explored ✦