2008 Holiday cards sent by former New York Governor, Mario Cuomo

I’m sure I’m not the only person looking up celebrity holiday cards on the internet, but if you haven’t tried that yet, you should. It’s a fun thing to see. You can tell so much about a person’s taste when you look at the little things in their life. I came across Mario Cuomo’s holiday cards from last year and at first I didn’t think much about it, but then I started to think about the man and I looked a little further into his life and family. It’s just a fun thing to do, like reading about celebrities in a gossip magazine.

I have to admit, I always liked Mr. Cuomo when he was New York’s Governor. The holiday cards design is rather “worldly,” literally speaking. It is a globe with a ribbon running around it with all the flags of all the nations of the world and white doves holding it up. Running around the edge of the card appears to be different holiday sentiments like Happy New Year, Merry Christmas, and Peace on Earth. It speaks of a former politician but in a nice and respectful way.

I’m sure most people know his family by now. He has two sons: Andrew is the New York District Attorney and Chris is on ABC’s Good Morning America morning news show. I love this guy! He is terrific at his job and sooooo good looking! I understand one of Mr. Cuomo’s daughters is married to the designer Kenneth Cole. Holy cow! Can you imagine her wardrobe?!?!? Lucky woman! Maybe I should look up Kenneth Cole’s Christmas cards, although I’m pretty sure he’s Jewish.

Spoof holiday cards featuring Amy Winehouse

What is a nice Jewish girl like Amy Winehouse doing sending out Holiday cards?!!!! This Christmas card spoof of poor misguided Amy is as appropriate as it is amusing. The festive card design is a caricature of the head of Amy depicting her huge, signature beehive hairdo all decked out with holiday ornaments, a string of lights, and a star on top. The sentiment at the bottom of the Christmas card reads “I’m dreaming of a Wino Christmas,” a musical reference with a twist to an all time favorite Christmas carol. Amy is a singer/songwriter in the music industry and is also known to imbibe the holiday spirits, hence the “wino.” Actually the holiday cards sentiment could have remained “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas,” since Amy is also known to partake of the illegal “white stuff” as well. These bad habits have led to her downfall recently and a lot of negative publicity in the tabloids.

Amy grew up in England in a somewhat musical household. Her father was cab driver who loved to sing to her, and her mother was a pharmacist (hmmm). Her brother played guitar. She started her own rap band at the age of 10 and attended a private theatrical school until she was expelled at the age of 14. This was due to her getting her first body piercing. Since then, Amy has had many more piercings and lots of tattooing which seems to make her somewhat of an oddity in combination with her 60s style hairdo and Jewish upbringing.

Amy’s big break came in 2008 when she won five Grammys, but was unable to attend the ceremony due to visa issues coming into the United States. By then, this very talented woman was on a downward trip due to drugs, legal problems, marital troubles, and ill health. It is unfortunate that Amy Winehouse cannot get her act together. Her songs are deeply personal and brutally candid, sung with a soulful voice that supposedly gets better as she drinks. Perhaps next Christmas, Amy will be gifted with a brighter future without the wine, white stuff, and bad behavior.

Yankees-inspired 2007 holiday cards sent by George Steinbrenner to his business associates

For 2007, George Steinbrenner sent out tasteful holiday cards to his many business associates. The design was printed on a buff-colored, heavy matte card stock and featured the sentiment “Happy Holidays” printed in dark blue, large letters in a type style known as Lucida Calligraphy. Below this was attached a thin, metallic black-and-gold Christmas ornament featuring a three-inch black ring with a black New York Yankees batting helmet in the center. The words “New York Yankees 2007 Where Players Become Legends” are printed in gold foil, as is the trim on the batting helmet. Mr. Steinbrenner’s signature appears in blue ink at the bottom right-hand corner of the card above the words “New York Yankees” printed in a script font.

George Michael Steinbrenner III was born on July 4, 1930 in Rock River, Ohio. After a stint in the Air Force and as an assistant football coach at Northwestern and Purdue Universities, he became owner and CEO of his father’s multimillion dollar Cleveland-based shipbuilding company. This allowed him to head the investment group which purchased America’s most famous baseball franchise in 1973.

The early years of Steinbrenner’s tenure were filled with both controversy and great achievements. He drew the ire of many in the game by inking superstars Goose Gossage and Reggie Jackson to record free-agent contracts. He was suspended in 1976 for having made illegal campaign contributions to Richard Nixon and returned to see his beloved Yankees capture back-to-back World Series titles in 1977 and 1978.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Steinbrenner became most famous for making 17 managerial changes in his first 17 years with the team, including hiring and firing Billy Martin five times. In 1990, Steinbrenner was again banned by baseball for making an illegal payment to confessed-gambler Howie Spira to dig up damaging information on former star player and nemesis Dave Winfield (talk about the Grinch who stole Christmas). He returned in 1993 in time to see the Yanks become a dynasty, winning the World Series in 1996 and from 1998-2000.

George Steinbrenner remains controversial with a string of high-priced free agent signings which has taken the team payroll over $200 million in recent years – $70 million higher than their nearest competitor and $140 million higher than the average baseball payroll. Some critics have even accused Steinbrenner of trying to buy the championship ring, dubbing the Yankees the “Evil Empire.”

A satirical holiday cards design from Abercrombie & Fitch, Subtlety reminding their recipients that they just overpaid

This satirical holiday cards design for Abercrombie & Fitch is a simple, somewhat rustic design with your typical “Happy Holidays” sentiment and the A&F moose logo pictured on the front. It is the “PS: You Just Overpaid!” statement that truly makes this card enjoyable to receive. Talk about truth in advertising! How refreshing during the holiday season that a retailer admits to ripping off its customers. It would be even more enjoyable (and in the A&F tradition), if several male and female semi-nude or scantily clad models also adorned the card. For a company that sells clothing, they show very little of it on their advertising models!

Abercrombie & Fitch is a store that makes you feel good when you walk inside its doors. The merchandise is all properly folded and nothing is out of place. The mannequins are all nicely dressed in such coordinated fashions that you can’t help but want to buy every outfit they display. You walk through the store grabbing at everything to be tried on in the fitting room. You emerge with an armload of outfits and head to the cashier. It is then that the wonderful feeling you had when you walked through the door suddenly disappears. How much did I just spend? A small fortune! But, you take out your credit card, grab your bag and head out the door. Merry Christmas! I just lost my mind spending a small fortune on three t-shirts and a pair of shorts.

However in defense of A&F, they did help my son find his one and only girlfriend and consequently his current wife. Before I shipped him off to college, I opened an Abercrombie credit card and proceeded to spend way too much money on a complete preppie wardrobe for him. Over the course of the summer, he had stopped dressing like a skateboarding punk and cleaned up nicely in the process. I was thrilled with my new clean-cut version of a son, and even more thrilled that because of Abercrombie & Fitch, he is now someone else’s problem! Thank you A&F for over charging me. In this case, it was well worth it!

Holiday cards designed by Michelle Kwan for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundations

Two stars overlapping, one effortlessly flowing on top of the other. “Season’s Greetings” sweeping underneath them. Inside each star, a flourish of color. Behind the stars, a stark white background. Looking at all of these holiday cards elements, you might almost think that you are watching the marks left on the ice from the blades of an ice skater. There is a gracefulness to the lines making up the illustration above which might make you think of watching a poised world champion figure skater. It’s not that surprising then to discover that Michelle Kwan, winner of five World Championships, nine U.S. championships, and two Olympic Medals designed these holiday cards.

When you see the list of medals that she has won and the titles she has held, it is hard to believe that Michelle Kwan is not yet even 30! And still, with the consistency of her skating and her artistry on the ice, she is thought to be one of the greatest figure skaters of all time. Michelle began skating at age five, following both her brother and sister onto the ice. When she was eight years old, she began training in earnest and at age 12 began to compete at the senior level.

Despite her spectacular talent, the dream that eludes her is winning an Olympic Gold. She was an alternate on the 1994 team, but did not compete. A favorite to win gold in 1998, she placed second and earned a silver medal. Again, a favorite to place first at the 2002 games, she only won the bronze. In 2005 she injured both her hip and abdomen and withdrew from competitions which would enable her to compete in the 2006 Winter Games. She petitioned for a medical waiver to enable her to be placed on the team despite these injuries and was approved. During her first practice session in Turin, however, she suffered another injury forcing her to withdraw from the games. At the time, she did not indicate a desire to retire. Should she compete in 2010, she will be 29 years old. In October 2007, Michelle indicated that she would make a decision in 2009 about whether or not to compete in 2010. But until then, at least she can continue designing graceful holiday cards.