Design Crafters

Now that is some poor service.  Our postal service here in the United States says that first class letters should arrive at their destinations within about 5 to 7 days. Of course, we’ve all heard stories where that time estimate was woefully off, where the letter took several weeks to arrive, or even months. But wouldn’t you hate to learn that people to whom you sent Christmas cards last Christmas were only just now receiving them? Yes, nearly nine months later.  I’ve heard of people having babies in less time!

Sadly, there are numerous accounts of customers of New Zealand Post who mailed Christmas cards last Christmas that still haven’t even arrived yet. Think of all the friendships and family relationships that may have been damaged by these incredibly delayed cards. While some recipients might find it a bit of a funny joke, still others could be hurt and offended by not receiving cards from friends, business acquaintances, or family members. After all, we’ve all heard of that expression “they’re off my Christmas card list!” as a euphemism for the end of a relationship, be it friendship, family, or business.  Hopefully, New Zealand Post can soon track down and deliver the wayward, missing Christmas cards. Any news inside those cards are surely outdated by now, but the sentiments in the cards will never expire. Let’s just hope that next Christmas, the cards don’t take quite so many detours for so long while en route to their destinations.  Or at least that they’ll arrive during the holiday season, even if it’s the following year.

Everyone collects something, even if you might think they aren’t a collector kind of person. What kind of a collector are you?  People have all kinds of collections:  china figurines, matchbooks, circus paraphernalia, books about the Civil War, comic books, you name it, someone out there surely collects it!  One type of collection that has been popular for many years (or maybe even many centuries) has been autographs.  Collecting peoples’ autographs probably ranks at the top of types of collections.

In general, you’ll find that autograph collections are typically a mishmash of formats.  People have all kinds of things autographed for their collections:  baseball cards, cocktail napkins, inside frontispiece of books, teeshirts, movie posters, photographs, and of course the time-tested favorite:  a scrap of paper.    One man in England who was recently recognized as a world-class autograph collector (he auctioned off his collection for 50,000 pounds!) says he put together his collection by writing to people to ask for their autographs, and many famous people complied, sometimes by postcard, letter, or even Christmas cards. 

It’s true, most peoples’ autograph collections generally feature the autographs of famous people (actors, musicians, politicians, religious leaders, or even just people in the news for one reason or another), some folks do collect the autographs of friends and family.  Don’t believe me?  Well, next time you’re putting away your Christmas decorations and you find yourself saving the stack of Christmas cards that you received, you might just realize that you are, in a way, collecting your family and friends’ autographs!

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.