Patti Patton-Bader is America’s Favorite Mom

Last November, GalleryCollection.com had a chance to be a part of something very special. As a refresher, we donated 280,000 holiday cards to Soldiers’ Angels, the nation’s largest military support organization, which then sent a personalized message to all the soldiers fighting overseas and a blank card for each soldier to write home. Soldiers’ Angels founder, Patti Patton-Bader, visited the GalleryCollection.com headquarters here in New Jersey to personally thank us for our support, and we were all lucky enough to be given the opportunity to meet this phenomenal woman.

It is now several months later, and Patti’s devotion to Soldiers’ Angels is still going strong…so strong that she was nominated by her son, SSGT Brandon Varn (who is currently stationed in Iraq), for America’s Favorite Mom, a contest sponsored by Teleflora, NBC, and several other companies. And low and behold, Patti was announced as the winner on Mother’s Day. With all her hard work, dedication, and selflessness as well as her caring and compassion for all the military men and women stationed overseas, I can’t think of anyone more deserving of this title.

Patti Patton-Bader is America’s Favorite Mom

As the winner, Patti will receive $250,000 in cash, a set of home appliances, flowers for a full year from Teleflora, and several other prizes. And in her true style of giving and caring for others, Patti hopes to use her winnings to help open a ranch where newly returned soldiers can relax with their families.

Hats off to you, Patti! You have certainly lived up to your organization’s slogan, “May no soldier go unloved.” And for that, America loves you and appreciates all you have done for our veterans, the wounded, deployed service members, and their families. Congratulations on your new title. It suits you well.

Buying Personalized Holiday Cards – It’s Just the First Step

You know the old saying “The cobbler’s son has no shoes?” Strangely enough, since I work for a company that makes personalized holiday cards, it actually applies to me. I heard that saying a lot as I was growing up. Why? Well first there was my uncle. We lived in an apartment in his building and of course he would be the one to call whenever there was a plumbing problem because not only was he the landlord, he also owned his own plumbing business. Yet he would come and replace our faucet with old pieces he could find laying around and sometimes use duct tape to seal a leaky pipe, always saying he would be back to fix it later. And of course, later could mean 6 months, or even a year!

Then of course there is my grandfather, who after he retired from the fire department, started his own house painting business. Yet the outside of my grandparents’ house remained unpainted for about 27 years. In fact, it didn’t get painted until after he retired from that business and handed it down to my uncle who decided to surprise them and paint their house while they were away on vacation.

Now there’s me. My company, The Gallery Collection, specializes in personalized holiday cards. I’m able to order a custom holiday card imprinted with my family’s names and a holiday message. In addition, we can have the mailing envelopes printed with our return address. I pick out my personalized holiday cards in March for goodness sake! All I have to do come December is address the envelope, stick a stamp on it and mail it! Yet there I am every December 21st or 22nd, hurriedly going through my collection of old envelopes with return addresses as I send out my Christmas cards. No, I don’t have an address book. I simply have a collection of envelopes from greeting cards that I have received over the years. If you send me holiday cards with your return address on it, you’re sure to get greeting cards back. If you don’t, hopefully I can look up your address online. If you’re not listed, you’re probably out of luck and hopefully you will learn your lesson and include your address next time! That is…if there is a next time.

Birthday Cards Help Celebrate an Unforgettable 50th Birthday

My 50th birthday will be remembered forever and not only because of the birthday cards I received! We have a tradition in our office of taking out the “birthday girl” on all major milestone birthdays. There is a group of 15 or so people who belong to this special birthday gathering. We go to the same restaurant year after year to celebrate, gossip, drink and generally have fun.

My 50th birthday started out rather routinely except for the excessive “over the hill” gag jokes which included Depends, a silly cane, and some not-so-nice gags I won’t mention (I often say “with friends like mine, I don’t need enemies!”). I did receive some lovely happy birthday cards though and I enjoyed reading through each of the greeting cards my friends gave me.

Soon after dinner arrived, I noticed my friend Dolly looking at me with bug eyes, face turning red and not saying anything. I continued to look at her with a blank stare until the woman next to her said, ”Oh my gosh, she’s choking!” Not even thinking, I jumped up, grabbed her from behind and started doing the Heimlich maneuver. It was not working and I felt her going down to the floor. Getting panicky, I thought if she falls on the floor it’s over. I gave one last frantic squeeze and out popped the lodged piece of steak. Dolly sat down and I collapsed in my seat thinking I was going to have a heart attack due to the adrenaline rush and die on my 50th birthday!

Well needless to say, this event has been mentioned every year since my 50th as my birthday draws near, and in every birthday card I receive from Dolly. It will be my most memorable birthday ever, not because of the happy birthday cards I received, but because both of us survived the ordeal. In the future, please just send the personalized birthday cards and skip the excitement! My heart’s getting too old to handle it!