Just a quick reminder that the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures start this evening on BBC4 at 20:00 and then continue for the next two nights at the same time. This year the theme is the human brian. I’ll be sitting down with the family after dinner to watch this as it’s long been a tradition in our household.
Sending Christmas Cards is probably the first Christmas preparation many of us make and now that we are into October this is especially true for businesses. I use to work for a Law firm and it never ceased to amaze me how much effort was put into getting Christmas cards to clients. Of course, it should not have surprised me as the sending of Christmas cards were and are a vital part of building a relationship with a client. Not only is it a great way of reminding a client you haven’t seen for a while that you are there but also an important way of thanking a client for their business over the year. I distinctly remember the year an e-card was sent out instead of a physical Christmas Card. This resulted in many clients asking why they had not received a card whilst others felt that the e-card was just too impersonal and showed a lack of effort of the part of the firm. This was despite the usual Christmas card budget going to charity. It would seem to me that if you want to spread some Christmas cheer this year, combining a personalised Christmas Card with a donation to charity is the best way to do it.
Paper Themes have a wonderful selection of Personalised Christmas Cards where you can select one of designs, and add a verse and your company contact details inside the card. I have been asked to review Paper Themes Personalised Christmas Cards and I have to say the cards I have in front of me look great. They use good quality card, and have a have a crisp white paper inlay. The designs on the front are contemporary (no chintzy Christmas going on here) and are completed with expensive gold lettering allowing for further personalisation. You can choose a charity and the charity will receive 10p for every card sold. The name of the charity is also shown in the card so clients can be sure that a good cause is also benefiting from the sending of this personalised Christmas Card.
There is plenty of space after personalisation for people to sign the card before they are sent out. Christmas Cards may have been made popular by the Victorians but receiving one in this electronic age may be more important to people than ever and these cards certainly won’t get held up by anyone’s spam filter or firewall.
Let me know what you think. Will your firm be sending Personalised Christmas Cards to clients this year through the post or do you think eCards are acceptable?
I always think the end of summer is a little sad. It won’t be long before we are going to work and coming home in the dark. The weather has certainly turned a little more Autumnal despite a warm day today. However, it does also mean that we are closer to Christmas, which you may have noticed from this blog is my favourite time of the year.
Two of the many things that mark the start of the Christmas countdown for me are the start of Strictly Come Dancing and the Last Night of the Proms. I have to say that I wish that they would just get on with the dancing on Strictly, but seeing the glittering set certainly makes me think of Christmas – I wonder who will still be in the competition when we reach December. Tonight we’re sitting down with a slice of my husbands birthday and enjoying the last night of the proms. I really do admire the dedication of professional classical musicians who clearly play for the love of music – Sir Henry Wood would be proud.
Have a nice weekend.
With 16 weekends until Christmas I’ve heard several people have started to receive charity Christmas catalogues this week and the mince pies have suddenly appeared in Marks & Spencer and other supermarkets. Those arranging charity collections are busy putting their plans into action and its time we all start to plan how we’ll try and make Christmas special for people who have not been as lucky or fourtenate as us.
Operation Christmas Child is something you can get involved with to a greater or lesser extent. Just in case you do not know what Operation Christmas Child is, every year volunteers cover old shoe boxes in Christmas Wrapping paper and fill them with gifts that are gender and age appropriate. Many local churches and organisations arrange a day whereby they create and pack the shoe boxes. You can either get involved in this or just buy a few things to take along that can be packed as part of a present. In popular demand are gifts for older boys such as a hat and scarf, or toiletries for boys such as toothpaste, a toothbrush and a comb. For younger children colouring books and crayons are great. For just a few pounds you could really let someone know that people care about them and make their Christmas a little more enjoyable. There are guidelines for what to buy, how to pack the boxes and general information regarding Operation Christmas Child at http://www.operationchristmaschild.org.uk/
I’m just planning what I need to buy in for next weekend. It’s going to be busy as I’ve decided to break with tradition this year and instead of waiting for Stir-up Sunday, I’m going to make my Christmas Cake and Christmas Puddings over the August Bank Holiday weekend. A friend did this last year and it worked really well. The cake and puddings certainly benefited from the extra standing time. I always keep a Christmas pudding to have over the Easter weekend and I always notice how much deeper and smoother the flavours have become by then, so the extra maturing time really makes a difference.
Giving the Christmas Puddings and Cake the extra time to mature is reason enough for making them early. Running a busy household, business and attending numerous social functions and church events between September and Christmas I find anything I can do early can make an enormous difference to the stress levels in the run up to Christmas, which should after all be the most enjoyable and special time of the year.
If you like the idea of having an early Stir-up Sunday best to get the Christmas Cake and Christmas Pudding ingredients on order now for next weekend.
Have a good week.
Linda
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