Love That Tree!!!

Years ago I was saddened when Rich's closed, but was so happy that Macy's decided to keep the tradition alive concerning their Christmas tree.

It's such an Atlanta tradition!

Still, I miss it atop the Crystal Bridge over Forsyth Street.  Lenox is a great location, but......

The tree standing atop the crystal bridge was on the cover of Time magazine in 1961 seen above.

This year the Great Tree is from my side of the town...Douglasville, Georgia, and is just a hop, skip, and a jump from my house. 

The tree is 26 years old.  This means that it was just a little sapling when I first moved to my home, and now.....it's become large enough to be chosen.   

I think it will do just fine!

The family who owns the tree has elected not to be identified, so I'll keep that under my hat.

The tree will be cut tomorrow, Thursday...November 10th.   It will then be transported and placed on the roof of the Macy's at Lenox Square on Sunday at 10 a.m.

The Great Tree Lighting Show will begin at 7 p.m. followed by a fireworks display.

Merry Christmas, 2008!

From my home to yours....Merry Christmas and Seasons Greetings!

Hoping for a Bethlehem Postmark

Realizing tomorrow is December 1st I was prompted to pick up a couple of extra boxes of Christmas cards today, and I hope to get them prepared to mail over the weekend.

That’s my goal every year, but I haven’t met it in years. In fact, I usually have to give up my desire to send cards because I simply run out of time.

This year….I am determined.

When I was a little girl I loved reading through Mom and Dad’s cards, but the envelopes intrigued me just as much. I loved the stamps and the postmarks……especially the ones that had come from Christmas sounding places like Bethlehem, Georgia. Back in the 70’s we always had at least two or three.

Bethlehem is a small, small hamlet with less than one thousand people….probably somewhere around 700. It was one of the towns the state deleted from official maps a few months back because of its size and their belief they were decluttering the maps. The town can be found on Georgia 11 between Lawrenceville and Athens in Barrow County.

Generally life in Bethlehem is pretty slow going until December when hundreds of people from the surrounding area descend on the Bethlehem, Georgia post office to mail their Christmas cards. People that know people living in Bethlehem mail their cards and stamp money to them in order to have the Bethlehem postmark. It’s a sort of tradition, I guess.

I wonder if I’ll get a postmark this year from Georgia's version of the city of David?

Well, one thing is for certain I won’t get many cards if I don’t send some, so off I go to get them done.

Bethlehem's official webpage
Other places with Christmas sounding names
The picture of the post office is from the official webpage.