Pascal would never admit it, but I think he secretly looks forward to this time of year for the holiday music on all of the radio stations.  To my knowledge, having radio stations dedicate an entire month to playing Christmas music is a uniquely American phenomonen.  He claims not to like it, but I’ve heard him humming Deck the Halls and tapping his toes along to Sleigh Ride:

Just hear those sleigh bells jingling,
Ring ting tingling too
Come on, it’s lovely weather
For a sleigh ride together with you

One of the most popular holiday songs of all time, Sleigh Ride has been covered by an amazing number of artists, including:  Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, The Andrew Sisters, The Muppets, Johnny Mathis, Amy Grant, Harry Connick, Jr., Debbie Gibson, Neil Diamond, Garth Brooks, The Spice Girls, Neil Diamond, and Clay Aiken. There’s a verse in the song that makes reference to Currier & Ives, probably the first time I’d ever heard of the duo. It wasn’t until years later that I understood that Currier & Ives were famous printmakers.

There’s a happy feeling
Nothing in the world can buy
When they pass around the coffee and the pumpkin pie
It’ll nearly be like a picture print by Currier and Iives
These wonderful things are the things
We remember all through our lives!

So just who were Currier and Ives? Only the most
successful printmaking firm of all-time. Headed by two men (with the last names of Currier and Ives), they operated in New York City from 1834-1907, producing black and white prints (lithographs) from paintings that were then hand-colored. Lithographic prints could be reproduced quickly and purchased inexpensively, and the firm called itself "the Grand Central Depot for Cheap and Popular Prints", advertising its lithographs as "colored engravings for the people", i.e.  art for the masses.

The company was prolific, publishing at least 7,500 lithographs in the firm’s 72 years of operation. Artists produced two to three new images every week, selling more than a million prints. Currier & Ives had an uncommon flair for gauging the people’s interests.  They employed (or used the work of) many celebrated artists of the day to create the original drawings which were then printed and later colored by hand. Over the years their selection of prints broadened to include almost every subject. There were horses, kittens, the Brooklyn Bridge, Christopher Columbus, historical events and catastrophes (like the explosion aboard the USS Princeton, 1844).  Of course, there were also plenty of winter scenes such as sleigh rides in the country and ice-skating in Central Park.

This is the first year that South ‘n France is offering a Currier & Ives bon bon tin, and we have feeling that just like centuries ago, it’s sure to be a popular seller…

1.Your only holiday decoration is a rotting pumpkin.
2. You turn on the lawn sprinklers on Christmas Eve to keep carolers away.
3. You buy all of your Christmas gifts at a store that also sells gas.
4. You give bathroom fixtures as Christmas gifts.
5. Your favorite Christmas movie is Jaws.
6. Your only contact with three spirits on Christmas Eve is with gin, vodka and bourbon.
7. You think "Ho, Ho, Ho" is a line from a Rocky movie.
8. Your holiday meal Christmas tradition involves a fire and reindeer meat.
9. Your favorite pastime is putting defective bulbs in your neighbors’ string of Christmas lights.
10. You put out last year’s stale candy canes for children.
11. You steal the wreath from a parked car to use on your own.
12. You bring fruitcake as a hostess gift to your friend’s Christmas party (bon bons are the true Christmas-spirit way to go).

Evaluate your score on the "Grinch Scale" of 0 – 120:

20-30: You are just a cheeseball.
30-60: You are an apprentice to Scrooge and you are probably wanted by the police for overdue parking tickets.
60-120: You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch. You really are a heel.  You’re as cuddly as a cactus.  You’re as charming as an eel.  Mr. Grinch–we hope that you’re not for real! 

Our South ‘n France Christmas catalog ships today.  It hardly seems possible that this is our fourth holiday season in the bon bon business. We’ve come a long way since that first year, I can tell you that! For our first holiday season, we didn’t have a catalog, just a tri-fold brochure. For year two, we changed our format to the current catalog size and added a holiday story, a parody of ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. That catalog received rave reviews from our customers. In fact, some customers would call us up just to tell us how much they loved the story, without ever placing an order.  (Talk about depressing for us – we really do intend for our catalog to actually sell product, not just amuse our customers!). 

Last year, we followed up with a parody on the film Elf. Both Pascal and I appeared as elves in the catalog that told the story of Leon the Bon Bon and the other bon bon elves. This summer, when it was time to start work on our catalog once again, I emailed our brilliant graphic designer, Brent Holloman, with a list of possible suggestions for the catalog’s theme. Brent liked "Mr. French:  The Grinch Who Tried to Stop Christmas!" best, so we immediately began brainstorming ideas.

Lucky for me, Brent has a talented illustrator-friend who worked for the most famous animation company in the world. I fondly referred to Brent and Brett as my B-Team. Brent created a rough layout for the catalog, and then Brett drew a series of rough sketches that where meant to look like Pascal (as the Grinch) and me (as Little Charley-Lou). This was the most difficult part of the process for us. I just couldn’t see the resemblance in those caricatures; I thought that the very first rendering of me looked like Phyllis Diller! Brett was extremely patient with our vain requests, and considering that we have never met (he was working from photographs), I think he did a great job of capturing our personalities as animated Seuss-like characters. His illustrations are sheer genius (you’ve got to see the "Hand" that dips the bon bons!)

Brett sent his sketches to Brent who colored them in on the computer. I got to spend a few minutes watching Brent color, and it’s such a cool process! It looks like even more fun than coloring with crayons. Brent has a great eye for detail, and he added fonts and dividing lines and lots of graphic touches that further enhanced the idea of our French Grinch story. I really do think that the final result would make a wonderful storybook.

We hope you enjoy this year’s holiday catalog, and we’d love to hear your suggestions for next year’s theme!