A Christmas mashup of Steiff and Dr. Seuss!

Every year for the past 46 years, a bank in downtown Milwaukee has been putting up a display for Christmas. They use a vast collection of Steiff animals and every year there's a different theme. I've taken photos every year we've gone to see the display, but I can't remember sharing any of them here. The lighting is usually kind of green and funky in the bank. But the bank now has new lighting and that made everyone and everything in there look a lot more healthy (including me). Along with the warmer, happier lights, they had maybe my favorite theme ever this year: characters from Dr. Seuss books!

Every year, we see the same giant Steiff animals dressed in costumes. After this many years, I feel like I know them. You can definitely recognize what's under there. And I'm sure it goes without saying who this bear is dressed as. I think it's so cool that they made a new coat of green fur to cover his regular fur.

This little deer is posing as the Grinch's dog, Max. It's funny since Max was playing a deer. Kind of a mind-bender, here.

Someone designed a cave for this Grinch bear and inside of it was hanging little Steiff bats. These bats are some of my favorite little critters there.

You'll notice the markings inside the cave and on some of the creatures' outfits look like the kind of line work Dr. Seuss would do. I appreciated all those details.

Remember those toys that drove The Grinch nuts on Christmas morning?

Now here's a character you're all going to recognize! The Cat in the Hat. What a perfect use for that little black cat or panther who appears every year.

I haven't read all of the inspiration books. I've read maybe three or four of them. Now I'm wanting to read them all! One I haven't read is The Sneetches. Do you guys know about The Sneetches? They seem like early Minions, since they're a bunch of little yellow things running around.

This display is from another one that's new to me: The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins. Does that book ring a bell with anyone? The hats:

And I'm assuming Bartholomew as a rabbit:

I thought this was one of the cuter animals.

These next pics are from Horton Hears a Who. Here's Horton with those cool drawn on ears. And check out his eyelashes!

I loved the Seussy trees they created. I think the kind of 2D drawn looking trees paired well with those bright, flocked ones.

Yertle the Turtle:

A sweet face:

This one is from Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? He looks like a missing Marx Brother, which I know has nothing to do with this theme.

There's a Bugs Bunny joke in here...

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish:

I just learned that this character's name is Nook and he's in the fish book.

I think this "Nook" is so funny because they chose a grumpy looking bear.

The Street of the Lifted Lorax:

This tiger is one of my favorite animals, year after year.

The Lorax, himself:

I think this is something from Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now!

Gertrude McFuzz:

And to Think That I saw it on Mulberry Street:

Green Eggs and Ham:

That sign has more to do with the bank than this display. :)

These characters went with a favorite Dr. Seuss book of mine Oh, The Places You'll Go:

Every once in a while, I'd see a wrapped present in the snow. Some of them were wrapped in cool Dr. Seuss wrapping paper. I didn't even know there was Dr. Seuss wrapping paper. Now that I know about it, I'd like to have some!

I think I'd especially enjoy wrapping presents in this paper:

I hope you all enjoyed this Christmas Steiff tour through the Dr. Seuss books! I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 🎄

P.S. ~ I just learned tonight that those are real trees under all that colorful flocking!