This year, Madame Alexander® wants to add a bit more fun and sparkle to the holidays by introducing terrific new dolls, ornaments, stocking and treetoppers to the Holiday Collection. These new offerings will help to spread the warmth and joy of the season throughout the home.

Holiday Ballerina is an 8-inch doll dressed in a gorgeous ballet costume. She wears a full multi-layered white tulle skirt embellished with ornate gold braid around the meridian. This same intricate gold trim also adorns the bodice and cap sleeves. Tiny pink and red rosettes are a beautiful accent on both skirt and bodice and a gold crown crests her dark hair which is coiled into a chic chignon at the nape of her neck.

For children, when the temperature drops, hopes are raised that long afternoons of skating are not far off. One doll eager to take to the ice is the new 8-inch Holiday Snowflake Skater. She is adorable in a red flock nylon dress with a full skirt decorated with tiny crystals in snowflake patterns. The white flock trim ornamenting the hemline is striped with metallic silver binding, and her cream blouse glitters with silver sparkles. Holiday Snowflake Skater comes complete with her own set of white fuzzy mittens and matching earmuffs that look adorable contrasted against her red hair. She also wears white tights with red velvet skates decorated with fluffy white pom-poms.

This Christmas, two new 20-inch stockings will be hung by the chimney with care. The Skating Maggie Christmas Stocking has a cuffed green velvet top, heel and toe. Gold lace trim runs along the edge of the green, and the body of the stocking is a patterned ivory silk. On the front of the stocking is Maggie - a little girl's face and fabric body, skating in a red jumper decorated with gold bells and paired with a short red and green plaid skirt. Wearing green tights and matching green mittens, a green hat sits on her gold braided hair. On her feet are her white skates with tiny pink bows and bright gold blades. Dancing Wendy Christmas Stocking is equally as charming with its cuffed red velvet top, heel and toe outlined with gold lace trim. The body of the stocking is a pale gold and on the front is Wendy - a little girl with a doll's head and fabric body. Wendy is dancing in a red lace tutu overlaid with red net apron trimmed with gold picot sits. Her scoop neck gold bodice has a back belt lined with red roses and a gold satin bow. Red sleeves sparkle with gold, as do her ballet slippers. Wendy's blonde hair is neatly tucked into a bun.

Madame Alexander is pleased to introduce two new treetoppers to brighten holiday season. Shining Bright Angel Fiber-Optic Treetopper is a lovely angel with fiber optic points of light beneath her sheer pleated silver organza skirt, providing a warm, illuminating glow. The skirt is trimmed at the hem with gold lame and the bodice is gold lame appliqued with a festive gold star. Shining Angel's crowning glory is her golden halo, which is encrusted with gilt braid and sparkling rhinestones, and her beautiful wings are made of marabou feathers. Starburst Angel Treetopper, another majestic new treetopper, is glorious in a gown of metallic red organza shimmering with gold iridescence. The gown is decorated with gold trim and ribbons, and has flowing bell sleeves. Gold and red metallic stars twinkle on the front of her long gown and the top of her golden halo. She wears an underskirt featuring swirling gold flourishes and glittering stars. Starburst Angel has dark blond ringlets, a lovely halo and real feather wings.

Now that the top of the tree is taken care of, Madame Alexander® introduces Jingle Belles Christmas Ornaments, wonderful keepsakes to decorate the branches. The set includes three 6-inch Wendy doll ornaments, each one featuring her lovely fac and a dropped waistline with a flounced skirt and on her feet are white socks and sneakers.

The new 12-inch Snoopy Huggums™ doll is a wonderful new addition to the Madame Alexander collection. On this sweet baby's soft, squeezable body she wears a pastel one-piece fleece romper with a lace-edged pale pink Peter Pan collar and bands of pink at the wrists. The white legs have elasticized bottoms and are also finished with a pink border and the sleeves are pale mint green. On the pale yellow chest is an appliqué of Snoopy waving, and a pale pink satin bow is centered beneath. On her feet are soft and fleecy black and white Snoopy slippers that perfectly capture his mischievous grin.

Independent, strong, and irrepressible, freckle-faced Pippi Longstocking™ made grown-ups nervous. Licensed from Nelvana, last year Madame Alexander® introduced Astrid Lindgren's unconventional heroine to collectors everywhere with the 8-inch Pippi Longstocking Doll. For 2001, a new, poseable 16-inch cloth Pippi is even more irresistible. She is a symphony of color in a turquoise apron with a large yellow pocket worn over a bright pink dress. Typically clad in mismatched pink and yellow striped socks, she also wears large pale blue boots on her feet. Pippi wears her flaming red hair in her signature style - plaited into two braids that stick straight out on either side of her head! Her painted features reveal her infectious smile and winning personality and the wire armature in her arms and legs allows for full poseability.

The Alexander Doll Company, a New York-based company with a factory in Harlem, is now celebrating its 78th Anniversary, continuing the tradition, elegance and innovation of Madame Alexander® dolls with a full line of fine quality, handcrafted collectible dolls, baby dolls and play dolls. The company has created a series of "firsts" that have shaped the doll industry and has always been a pioneer of style and quality in this community. The Alexander Doll Company is the only remaining major manufacturer of handcrafted dolls in America.

For More Information Contact: Sally Fischer Public Relations, 212/246-2977