Greetings and a Christmas cheerful welcome to our December 2022 newsletter!
Everyone is now in the Christmas mood and busily preparing for the big day. We've bought even more decorations this year although we have far too many already. It's hard to resist, isn't it. If you're in Australia or New Zealand, you'll be buying charcoal for the barbie. OK, that's a guess as we've never been there but we know you'll have a great time.
All this Christmas activity means that this month sees very few new introductions except from the 'hardy annuals' Nora Corbett, Bella Filipina, Cottage Garden and Glorafilia.
We've got some news on UK postal strikes, our Christmas break and on deliveries to the European Union which have been a bit hit and miss over the past year and half.
Bella Filipina's latest creation Magwayen is proving to be very popular and is currently sold out. We'll be re-ordering soon and should have the bead packs next week.
It seems that the Kreinik company is at last beginning to recover. They're now manufacturing most of their #4 (very fine) metallic braid - although it is taking a bit of time to filter through to us retailers. They mostly come in bigger reels now and are labelled in white. A pity as their old colour codes were helpful.
Unfortunately Mill Hill Magnifica Beads are still not being manufactured. There's no word on what's happened unless you know different!
UK Postal Strikes
It won't be a surprise to our British readers but the UK postal workers are holding a series of strikes during December and this means the mail will be somewhat stop and start. We're listing the dates of the strikes in a calendar that you can visit for the latest information.
European Union
As mentioned above deliveries to EU countries have become unreliable. We believe this is because of new import rules introduced in the middle of last year and it has caused many of our customers and us a lot of headaches.
It seems that postal services have taken advantage of these new arrangements to slap on a massive fee for customs processing even for small packages. As a result we've temporarily suspended sales to the EU.
The good news is - we believe we've got the answer. We'll be introducing a new system in the new year that will avoid these ludicrous charges and also speed up Customs processing (we hope!). We really hope that we can all get back to where we were before all the nonsense started!
Christmas Holidays
Because of the mail strikes, the last posting date for Christmas mail to the UK is 16th December so we're going to make that our last day, too. We need a break and we also need to change our systems to handle all the new rules and regulations that have appeared over the past couple of years.
Bargain Basement
There's a variety of table linen in the Bargain Basement this month including hardanger, surface embroidery and counted cross stitch. Very keen prices as usual!
And Finally
Our title is drawn from the poem 'A Friend's Greeting' by an American poet Edgar Guest (1881-1959) who was hugely popular a century or so ago. This is the final stanza of the poem:
"I'm wishing at this Christmas time
that I could but repay
A portion of the gladness
that you've strewn along the way;
And could I have one wish this year,
this only would it be:
I'd like to be the sort of friend
that you have been to me."
Christmas is a time for family and friends and we dearly hope you will have plenty of both this year.
May we thank you for your custom, kindness and friendship through the past year and wish you a Very Merry Christmas.
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