Dear friends,

Unfortunately, I open this edition of Chip’s Tips with some sad news: it is with deep regret that I report to you that yet another one of the great Christmas stores in the New York metropolitan area has closed its doors forever. As a result of the current economic downturn, Fountains of Wayne, a New Jersey landmark for over 40 years on Route 46 in Wayne, has gone out of business. And if that wasn’t bad enough, Fortunoff, which boasted quite an elaborate Christmas department during the holiday season, has been forced to close as well. These stores now join the already defunct Christmas City, Harrows and Treasure Island. But that’s not all; in addition to all this, beginning this year the Branch Brook/Namco chain will no longer be carrying a Christmas line. They now join Fairfield Garden Center, which, while remaining in business, has also discontinued its Christmas line. What a perfectly awful loss for our area in only the last 5 years, and this very same thing is happening in other areas all across the nation. It’s just a very sad sign of the times. One small bright spot to report, however, is that subsequent to its liquidation, the Harrows name has been resurrected by 2 former partners and has opened 3 stores on Long Island. However, these new Harrows stores are not the same as the original stores. For example, while they do have a Christmas department during the holidays, these new stores no longer market the Golden Sleigh product line, which was the original store’s exclusive line of Christmas goods.

Now, for some good news, there is a new feature on the Yule Log.com message board: Forum’s Photo Gallery. Here you will find 2 photo albums that you can now upload pictures to: the first album, Forum Photos, is the place to share your photos so that we may see the face behind the posts; the second album, The Yule Log Book of Photos, is the place to share your favorite family Christmas photos with us. I hope you will enjoy this new feature on the message board -- it’s an exclusive for Diamond Forums only. By the way, for all those who were not yet aware, I have created a new category on the message board entitled The Yule Log Book of Memories. This category is dedicated to the stories that you have written about your fond memories of growing up with the Yule Log. Here you can find a select sampling of Yule Log stories that have been submitted over the past 2 years by some of the program's most loyal and dedicated fans -- including yours truly. Among the stories posted is one by News 12 meteorologist and Hayden Planetarium instructor/lecturer Joe Rao, about his memories of the very first airing of the Yule Log on that snowy Christmas Eve back in 1966. These stories, among others, will be included in the upcoming e-book which will be available as a free download. Thanks to all who have submitted stories so far and remind those who haven’t that stories are being accepted on an ongoing basis; so, if you have a story to share with us about your heartwarming memories of growing up with the Yule Log, please email it to me at [email protected].

Lastly, I have another great website that I can refer you to that is dedicated to classic electric Christmas lights -- this one focusing primarily on the postwar baby boom era; it even has an entire page dedicated to the greatest manufacturer of them all, General Electric. The site is called, appropriately, The Yulelights Collection. Here you will not only find a wealth of information about electric Christmas lights, but also a myriad of great pictures including a large assortment with the sets all lit up! There is even a master page where you can view the entire gallery of lighted sets all on one page. I can’t begin to tell you how many memories this website brought back-- the lights, the packaging they came in, etc. I hope you will enjoy your visit there as much as I did and that it brings back as many memories for you as it did for me.

That’s all for now, folks. I’ll be back soon with another edition of Chip’s Tips. In the mean time, have a great summer and don’t forget to keep the spirit of Christmas all year through.