As we come to the end of 2015, concluding our 62nd year in the industry, many of the readers of this newsletter will remember when Christmas was not just a search for the newest “Smart phone, Smart Watch, PC, Game Console, Electric Car, or a Car that can drive itself” …even as they still nervously look over their shoulders at unemployment and the uncertainty of the economy. It wasn’t always like this.
For example, when we first sent the Christmas message that follows to our friends and customers over a half century ago, it wasn’t even by email. One thing that hasn’t changed is that we still do not know whom to assign the credit of this message even though we have used it many times in the past 62 years. What we do know, however, is that one of the many things that makes Christmas so great is its timelessness.
Even though times and circumstances change, some things remain constant. For example, those serving our country today in the military, whether it is in far off places or those here at home anxiously worried about unemployment, foreclosures, rising health costs, are not basically different from those who served in other conflicts at other times or suffered through other national disasters when it comes to their memories of home and Christmas. In that context, it seems to us as appropriate today as it did when we first sent it so many years ago. We hope you enjoy it.
CHRISTMAS is…the writer’s cramp you get from addressing Christmas cards…the miles and miles of gift ribbon that is never enough… the phony heartiness of department store Santa Clauses…aching feet and pushing crowds.
CHRISTMAS is…the gift you buy because you should…the way money vanishes…the sleep of the exhausted on Christmas night…and the hopeless chaos of a house the morning after.
CHRISTMAS is also…a father on a wobbly ladder putting a battered angel on the tree-top…Bing Crosby singing Adeste Fideles…the delicious freedom of choice that confronts a small shopper in the dollar stores…the lovely combination of smells: bread in the oven and pine cones on the hearth.
CHRISTMAS is also…a Mother and a Father sitting through a school play and seeing only one fat angel…your whole, maddening, wonderful family, seen in a flash of brilliance, as the people you love to the hurting point…the sound of church bells splintering the frosty midnight with tidings of great joy.
FOR CHRISTMAS…is the Birthday of the Child whose coming is the reason why children can laugh and men can dream.
It doesn’t have to be Christmas for us to remember our many good friends and customers who have made any success we have achieved possible…but the season does give us an opportunity to pause and express our appreciation for their friendship and goodwill. It’s folks like you that makes our business possible…and it is our sincere pleasure to pause and say “Thank You” and extend our warmest good wishes for you and yours this holiday season.