‘Tis the Season to Send Greeting Cards

As Kelly pointed out last week, greeting cards often reflect the personality of the person sending them. To demonstrate this point, the NSS Girls present to you a showcase of our personalities, through cards. We would love to hear what you’ve discovered about yourself when shopping this holiday season. Enjoy!

Our Show Manager will lead us off…


The holidays began early for me this year – tonight is the 3rd night of Chanukah and my family is in the throws of candle lighting, dreidel playing, latke making and, of course, gift giving. We love the tradition of this holiday, but what’s even more fun is sharing our traditions outside our own throughout the season – craft making, decorating Christmas trees, cooking for the less fortunate and so forth.


So, when it comes to selecting my holiday card, I focus on the message first. The message of peace is one we have embraced every year for as long as I can remember. And, this Caspari “Peace on Earth” card also depicts the world surrounded by animals -- my kids’ passion beautifully conveyed surrounding the planet earth. The message framed by the magnificent art speaks to who we are as a family and what we want to express in our holiday sentiment.

Then there is the Happy New Year greeting in silk-screened, glorious colors produced by Great Arrow Graphics. These cards have the most magnificent hand and are wildly happy! Everyone knows that I am guilty of perpetually smiling, “the happy girl,” as I’m called, so these boxes of New Year greetings fit my bill perfectly. Why a New Year’s Card? Well, I often have a list as long as an aisle of the National Stationery Show, and it is a rarity that I would complete the task of card inscribing, addressing and stamping by Christmas. Forget rarity. It won’t happen. I am a believer that sending the greeting over the span of the holidays is perfectly fine, and New Year’s greetings are universally “safe” because everyone celebrates the turn of the calendar. These classic Great Arrow square cards won’t cost additional postage, either. Why? Because Alan Friedman and the team at Great Arrow found a work-around by providing a standard envelope to house the card within. (I am confident that the postal service will catch up with the technology to automate the handling of square cards sooner rather than later).

In the next week, I am going to sit down with my girls and husband and get crackin’ on the preparation of the cards. I know we’ll have to negotiate between soccer, homework and time hanging out with friends to get the job done, but we have more than a month to do it! Cheers, best and Peace this season.

- Patti
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This year, I am not sending the same card to every person on my list. I’m trying to match the card to the recipient. That means lots of shopping fun! I picked up this hilarious Anne Taintor card last weekend at a new store called Sundrees (yes, that’s how it’s spelled) on Main Street in Trumansburg, NY. Normally, I would have chosen this card for my friend Susan, but it was she who was accompanying me on this little trip. (She lives in T’burg, about 4 hours from here). She and her husband would have gotten the humor of this one. But since she’s seen it now, I will send this to Stacey, my friend since high school, and her husband Scott. I am thinking that the photo is somehow from the movie Miracle on 34th Street. At least it looks that way. It just cracks me up, because who doesn’t know the old song “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus?” The words here have turned Santa into a pretty scary guy to this little boy. A little “Sopranos-ish,” don’t you think? Inside the card is funnier still – it says “Peace Love Understanding.” This is funny twice over for me, once for the obvious play on the cover with Santa saying “understand?” and second, because it is also a musical reference (Anne Taintor, did you mean to do this? Very clever!) I’m thinking of Elvis Costello and that song “(What’s so Funny ‘Bout) Peace Love and Understanding” – it works! Stacey’s husband is a music industry guy, so he’ll get this part, and Stacey herself has a great sense of humor. She will love this card for the front all on its own. That’s the great thing about Anne’s cards, the front totally sells it, and the inside is like a one-two punch. Not all my cards will be humorous ones this year; in fact most of them are not. For this blog, though, I thought I’d share this one with you. However you celebrate the holiday season, I wish you peace, love and understanding!!!

- Kelly
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My 2008 holiday cards are from Carole Joy Creations. When choosing holiday cards, I like cards that reflect my ethnicity and the words have to reflect what I would say if I wrote the cards myself. I chose two cards this year- one for my family and one for my friends that express these sentiments perfectly. Wishing you a happy and healthy holiday season!

- Arque
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Hallmark created this peaceful and tranquil Christmas card which to me clearly expresses the song “There's No Place like Home for the Holidays". The scene, which reflects a winter wonderland, reminds me of the many holidays that my family and I celebrated in our beautifully decorated home, sitting by the fire, drinking eggnog, and my favorite part, opening presents. I am not particularly fond of snow, but I always dream of a "White Christmas."

May your holidays be filled with warmth, affection, laughter, and wonderful memories that help make your home such a wonderful one.

- Rosanne
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When picking out Christmas cards this year I was torn between 2 styles. The one you see here from Sunrise Greetings and a cute box of Curious George cards. In the end, my love for monkeys and cartoons took a backseat to my love for a warm message. Love is such a simple but important message that many people forget about in the busyness of the season. No matter your race, religion, gender or class, this holiday season, we can all give the gift of love to strangers, family and friends alike. This month my goal is to hold a few more doors open for those carrying bags, thank a few more people for the services they provide and give a few more hugs & kisses to the ones that I love. So I bought this card for my husband Chris. For all of the love he shows me every day.

Happy Holidays everyone ~ I hope your month is filled with laughter, love & blessings

- Jess
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Don't forget to tell us YOUR holiday card stories! We love to hear from you.