Wonderful Holiday Message

[Guest guest]

I believe you'll find the following Holiday message a welcome

addition to this special time during the Holidays. Of course most

people, even not so nice ones, share kind thoughts and happiness

during the Holidays. I wanted to take this moment as the list owner

and one of the moderators of this group to thank all of you for all

of your kind words that bring hope, help, friendship and support

throughout the year, not just at Holiday time!

Here is quick background to the following message: My mom was an

orphan that grew up during the depression -separated from all family

except her brother and her sister - it was a terrible time for her

that she still can't talk about. It wasn't until I was almost an

adult that I found out that I had family in California that I never

knew. I've mentioned two of my cousins on this grouplist already who

I call my " famous cousins " in private - here is a wonderful Holiday

message that you may want to share with your child from some of my

other cousins from California. I hope you enjoy this message as much

as I did!

Christmas Newsletter 2001

A hearty hello to all you teddy bear fans! Yes, we took a sabbatical

from newsletter writing, but we're back! Our email address has

changed, BUT nothing(almost) else has. Here's our new email address:

teddyoutlet@... .

The big news in the teddy bear world is that the centennial of the

teddy bear is coming in 2002. So, " everyone " is making a hundred year

anniversary bear to celebrate.

Some of you may know the Steiff story, but for those of you who

don't, here it is:

Margarete Steiff is credited as being the founder of the company. She

was partially paralyzed as a result of polio. As a child, she was

even carried to school by her classmates. Because of her affliction,

Margarete never married but supported herself by becoming an

accomplished needleworker. It's said that she had a powerful

personality too. By 1893, Margarete had founded Steiff and had

fourteen employees. Her nephew, , produced the first teddy

bear. Unfortunately, because it was so large and so heavy, it was a

failure. No child could carry it around. But, ingenuity paid off! By

1904, his smaller and lighter teddy bear was selling " like hotcakes " .

12,000 were ordered at the St. Louis World Fair alone. Steiff knew

they were on to something!

In this country in 1902, meanwhile, an immigrant's wife stitched the

first teddy bear. She wanted to honor Teddy Roosevelt's sense of

fairness in not shooting a bear cub. (Yes, that bear cub story is

true!) The husband of the woman wrote to the President asking to call

the bear Teddy's Bear. It's said that the President gave permission

to use his name, but he stated that he didn't think using his name

would " do much good " . So much for that! The company that was founded

as a result of that first little teddy bear was the Ideal Toy

Company. Many of you probably had Ideal teddy bears when you were

young. Ideal also was the company that first made " Smokey " . It was

sold to CBS in 1982. Today, old Ideal bears are very valuable,

especially when they're in " mint " condition.

So, this Christmas season is a special one in the teddy bear world.

It's the beginning of the centennial. Of course, this Christmas is a

time when we all feel the need for the comfortable and the familiar.

And, we know that we can count on our teddy bears now and in the

future. We at the Teddy Bear Outlet, send you our wishes for a Happy

Holiday Season and a Healthy New Year.

From Your Friends,

Norm, and Bruce

(P.S. Check out our new stuffed animals. They're waiting just for

you.)

http://www.teddyoutlet.com

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