Give the gift of a message from the heart this holiday season with Hallmark

Hallmark i s a paid advertiser of Sonoran Living Live.

For many people, the holidays are a time to reflect on what really matters — relationships with family, friends, colleagues and neighbors. With that reflection comes an opportunity to tell those special people what they need to hear, and a popular way to do that is to send a holiday greeting card.

According to Hallmark , Christmas in the largest card-sending holiday in the United States with approximately 1.6 billion cards exchanged annually. How much is 1.6 billion? It’s every man, woman and child in the United States, five times over. It’s 600 million more than worldwide monthly Facebook users and 13 times the record-breaking number of votes cast in the Season 10 finale of American Idol. It’s a lot of cards.

One of the creative people behind holiday cards — Hallmark writer Amy Trowbridge-Yates —joined Sonoran Living to talk about the opportunity the holidays provide to celebrate all the ties that bind, as well as greeting card innovations from Hallmark that can help us connect with loved ones in unique and meaningful ways.

Hallmark provides more than 2,700 Christmas card designs, including more than 250

boxed-card selections and more than 1,800 individual cards for a variety of recipients. When writing greetings, Hallmark writers often pull from their own relationships, or relationships they observe, to help generate card messages that resonate with customers’ personal relationships. Amy shared with viewers a holiday card for a spouse that was inspired by her own relationship with her husband.

In addition to cards for specific relationships, Amy shared that Hallmark creates holiday cards with a variety of sentiments — from humorous to heartfelt — and cards with new interactive features. For example, a loved one can send a child a Hallmark holiday card with a functioning clock that counts down the days and hours to Christmas! Other Hallmark cards include music, lights or technology that changes one’s voice to sound like an elf. Sonoran Living’s very own Teri Oullette checked out Hallmark’s new interactive cards that help people get excited for the season, including a card featuring Mickey Mouse who dances to music.

Leading up to the holidays, Terri will continue to share fun new holiday greeting cards from Hallmark, so stay tuned!

Hallmark i s a paid advertiser of Sonoran Living Live.