Design Crafters

I sure hope that 69-year old Florida gal, Sandy Frosti remembers to do her photo greeting cards this Christmas. Because she has a picture to brag about that none of her friends or family can say they have.

After hearing a strange noise downstairs, too big of a noise for her cat to make, Sandy decided to go down and check it out. There she found roaming her kitchen was an 8 foot long alligator. It’s not unusual for that neighborhood to see alligators, but never before in someone’s kitchen.

The alligator had apparently pushed through the back porch screen door and went inside through an open sliding glass door. It then traveled through her living room, down the hall and into the kitchen. They don’t know what possessed this critter to enter the house, but one theory was that it was after the cat.

Needless to say, the screens have been fixed and Sandy is now keeping the glass door closed.

In the end, all humans and the cat remained alive and in one piece. The alligator however became leather boots. Unfortunately once an alligator is brace enough to enter a home, it will continue doing it and becomes a danger to everyone, especially un-expecting small children and pets.

The original article was found at:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24254754/

You may have noticed there are fewer religious messages (or any acknowledgement of the Saviors birth at all) on Christmas greeting cards these days. I’ve even noticed the ones that do acknowledge the true reason for the season, are often hideous or are not quite the verbiage I’m looking for. I have to look really hard to find nice ones. Am I just looking in the wrong places?

Nevertheless, this brings up one of the many beauties of photo Christmas cards. You can add any picture and any phrase you’d like. Religious or not. It also means a lot more to have a personalized card like that. Think about it…When you receive Christmas cards in the mail, which ones do you notice? Which ones mean more? A certain family member of mine saw me writing this blog post and answered “the ones with the money in them”. That’s not quite what I meant, but had to laugh anyhow. Somebody’s getting a lump of coal in their stocking ;0).

The answer for me…When I receive Christmas cards with pictures and/or a personal note, those mean so much more to me than a pre-printed impersonal message.

I can also put the photo greeting cards in a photo album.  Just a thought to remember for this Christmas’ preparations.

Why does every mall have a "Santa Village with a Santa
sitting on a throne and children clamoring to sit on his lap? Stores and malls
have been revved up about Christmas since the late 1800’s when Macy’s started
the tradition with their Christmas window displays and started staying open
until midnight on Christmas Eve. The
whole tradition snowballed from there.

In America
today, the short weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas are by far the
biggest retail sales event of the whole year. The survival of most retail
stores depends on how well they do during the Christmas buying season. It is
for that reasons that the retailers come up with all the advertising, special
deals and long hours. They do whatever they can to stir up a buying frenzy
getting customers into a Christmas buying spirit and to attract them to their
stores. Festive decorations, big ads, Santa’s Villages and all the rest are
part of that process.

Most Christmas cards are also sold during that time frame, putting a real
burden on the greeting card industry - especially for those who personalize Christmas
cards for business. With all the online ordering of not only Christmas cards
but all kinds of gifts, causes a real burden on delivery systems such as UPS,
FedEx and USPS.