We are southbound!

On December 25, we are gearing up for a week in... (drum roll!!!).... JAMAICA!

Stay tuned for some updates, review and most definitely - photos! Here's a little preview (and hopefully I'll experience something similar):

Image taken from here

:)

Mmm... Sugar cookies....

Christmas time is THE time of the year when I think it's justified to indulge a little, food-wise (and refer to it later as a little "holiday" weight, he-he). I also think it's the time when the consumption of cookies increases sharply. So to add to that, I made some delicious sugar cookies!

I got this recipe for a mommy friend, who was kind to share it with us. She is a blogger mommy, so rather than re-write her recipe, just click on the link for step-by-step instructions to making these tasty treats: Amber's Sugar Cookie Recipe

Enjoy! And happy holidays!

A wee bit of holiday cheer!

Those of us (and I would imagine, most of us) who leave Christmas shopping till the month December, are faced with a daunting task of braving the overcrowded malls and other box stores in search for that perfect gift for that special someone. So after a stressful work-day and yet again, a stressful shop-night, it's nice to come home and get something cheerful in the mail. Usually, I get this experience with postcards from people I don't know (no, I don't walk around giving my address to strangers) - I mean those I receive as part of the Postcrossing project. But last night we got an awesome Christmas card from our good friend & neighbour G! Isn't it hilarous?!

Did you know? (Christmas Cards Facts)

I love receiving holiday cards, and to be honest, my family almost never disappoints me when it comes to sending cool greeting cards (I'll post some of the images later). Last night I was browsing the net, for nothing in particular, and I don't even know how I stumbled across some interesting Christmas cards history bits :)

I've collected a few more to share them with you!

* In 1840s - official Christmas card tradition was initiated by Queen Victoria.

* Year 1843 - The custom of sending Christmas cards started in the UK in 1843 by Sir Henry Cole. He commissioned a card featuring the artwork by John Callcott Horsley, which he sent to his grandmother (how nice!?). It later became world's most expensive Christmas card when it was sold for £22,500 ($35,800) in 2001 at an auction.


World's first Christmas card

 * Year 1875 -  Louis Prang, American printer, lithographer and publisher, brought Christmas card production to the US. Some often refer to his as the "father of the American Christmas card". Fast-forward 6 years - he's printing more than 5 million Christmas cards per year!

* Year 1905 - now the world's largest greeting card company, American Greetings, was started from a horse-drawn cart by a polish immigrant in Ohio.

* Year 1910 - the largest greeting cards manufacturer in the US, Hallmark Cards, was founded in Kansas City, Missouri.

* Year 1920 - Canadian greeting cards manufacturer, Carlton Cards, was founded in Toronto, Ontario.

* Year 1949 - world-famous UNICEF launched their charity Christmas Card program. It started after a seven-year old girl in the former Czechoslovakia gave her drawing to UNICEF to say "thank you" for the help she received. Today, UNICEF cards are sold in many countries using designs donated by artists from all over the world. (To buy some UNICEF greeting cards, just click HERE)

UNICEF Christmas card by a Canadian artist Terry Ananny

* Year 2009 - $157.9 million - yup, that's the value of stationery, office supplies, cards, gift wrap and party supplies purchased at large retailers in Canada in December 2009, up 97% from average monthly sales of $80 million for this category in 2009 and up 72% from November (these are the last available numbers).

* Year 2010 - according to Hallmark, about 1.5 billion Christmas cards are sent in the US each year (woah!) - now compare that with Valentine's Day, which sees a measly (compared to Christmas) 144 million cards.

* 600,000 - the number of cards that Santa receives in Finland

* 15% - percentage of cards purchased by men (no surprise here!)

* 54% - percentage of people that prefer "Merry Christmas" on the cards they purchase. "season's Greetings" is liked by 12% and "Happy Holidays" is preferred by 21%

And here's a fragment of the collection of Christmas cards I sent out to my fellow postcrossers this holiday season:

Sources: Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/), Why Christmas? (http://www.whychristmas.com/customs/cards.shtml), Stats Canada (http://www42.statcan.ca/smr08/2010/smr08_149_2010-eng.htm), UNICEF (http://www.unicef.org/), Hallmark (http://newsroom.hallmark.com/Holiday), published works of Terry Ananny (http://www.terryananny.com/Published%20Works.htm)

Let it snow!...

I don't know why, but this year I've been itching to decorate my office for the holidays. Early.
BUT I made myself hold off and kept saying "wait till it at least snows!". Of course, as if on purpose, we enjoyed a warmer than usual autumn, and the average temperature in November was +10 C!!! Anyhow, we got our first real snow on November 23, which is when I busted out the scissors, and the cutting of paper began.

I always loved making snowflakes so I never thought of it as a special skill on anything, but after many oooohs and aaaahs from my coworkers and one suggestion that I should teach a class, I figured that maybe a blog post is in order :)

My office door window
(it's a pretty narrow hallway, so the photo came out a bit crooked)

Here are some of the snowflakes up close:

Now... Are you wondering how to do them? I will show you.