Christmas Stamps

The Smithsonian's National Postal Museum Web site has a history of the traditional Christmas stamp and the art on which the stamps are based. It is an interesting look back in time.

Visit The Art of Christmas Stamps at the Web site. Using the arrow on the bottom right, scroll over until you see the exhibit listed. Then, just click to see the exhibit.

Voting is Open in Love Letter Contest

The Bright Star Love Letter Contest that I mentioned in an earlier blog post has moved on to the voting stage. The general public can register and vote for their favorite letter and their favorite "tweet." I will warn you...when I tried to register, the system kept rejecting my e-mail address, saying that it was invalid. I just happened to have more than one e-mail address, so I used another one, and that worked. Hopefully the process will work for you.

Even if you don't want to vote, you might register and take a look at the letters; they have photos of the actual letters, and many are quite creative.

Christmas cards and letters

This week in the United States, many people will be celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday. Here, many people who celebrate Christmas wait until after Thanksgiving to start decorating for Christmas or sending out Christmas cards and letters. (Although, I have already seen Christmas decorations on several houses in the area, and the stores have had Christmas stuff for sale since Halloween or earlier.)

I'm curious about Christmas greetings in other countries. Here, we have the day after Thanksgiving as the unofficial start of the Christmas season, and I'm wondering when people in other countries start preparing for Christmas. Do you start earlier than us, beginning with Halloween, instead of Thanksgiving. Or, do you start later than us, waiting until Dec. 1 or later to start sending out the Christmas cards and letters?

I'd love to see some comments on this topic!

"Changing the World for the Better, One Letter at a Time"

I've just discovered another great Web site! The Love Letter Squad is made up of Janet Gallin and Tresa Eyres, who describe themselves on the Web site as "two San Francisco women on a mission to change the world for the better, one letter at a time."

They have a regular column at Examiner.com and a radio show on San Francisco's KUSF.  If you're not available to listen to the show live (Tuesdays from 7:30-8 p.m. Pacific Standard Time), you can listen to the archives of the show on their Web site.

They also have a "Dear Squad" question-and-answer column and offer love letter-writing workshops.

The love letters discussed on the Web site aren't just between sweethearts; these love letters seem to be from anyone who wants to express a loving thought to someone else.

It's an interesting Web site that I think you'll enjoy.

Letters of Thanks

With the American holiday Thanksgiving coming up next week, I've been thinking about letters of thanks. While doing some research, I came across the "A Million Thanks" organization. I haven't had time to completely check it out, but it appears to still be active.

The organization was started by Shauna Fleming in 2004 when she was a high school student. The purpose of the program is to send thank you letters to people serving in the U.S. military. The Web site has the address to send the letters to, as well as sample letters, photos and more.

Check it out.

Inspiring words

"After (my father) died, I realized that no one writes to me anymore. Handwriting is a disappearing art. I'm all for email, and thinking while typing, but why give up old habits for new? Why can't we have letter writing and email exchange in our lives? There are times when I want to trade all those years that I was too busy to sit with my dad and chat with him, and trade all those years for one hug. But too late. But that's when I take out his letters and I read them, and the paper that touched his hand is in mine, and I feel connected to him."

                    — Lakshmi Pratury
                    At the TED conference, a nonprofit conference devoted to Ideas Worth  Spreading.

Lakshmi Pratury gives a wonderful talk about letter writing and leaving a legacy. To see the entire, but short, talk, visit the TED Web site. (Just a note: it took a little while for the video to load on my computer, but it's worth waiting a few seconds.)

For a Little Letter-Writing Inspiration...

This weekend, I was lost in the Internet, jumping from link to link, just looking at interesting things. I came across this article, "The 101 Most Useful Websites" on the Daily Telegraph's online newspaper. (Note: All 101 Web sites aren't listed in the online article.)

One of the Web sites listed was "Letters of Note," a blog featuring copies of interesting correspondence. Today's post is a 1964 letter from British children's book author Enid Blyton to the Australian Prime Minister, who had apparently made some derogatory comments about one of her books. Letters of Note has a copy of the original letter and a transcription, making it easier to read.

Letters of Note often includes links to collections of letters, too.

It's a great letter-writing site! Visit it and enjoy perusing the many letters there.