Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Let’s talk for just a few moments about the American version of Santa Claus:  bringer of toys, rider of sleighs; that whiskered, red clad, twinkle eyed, pot bellied, reindeer calling, ho-ho-ho-ing mascot of Christmas.   Just who is he and where did he come from anyway? 

Research reveals he is a culmination of centuries of legends, starting with a 4th century Turkish Monk renowned for overt generosity and kindness toward children to whom he would clandestinely toss gifts in through windows.  He became known as St. Nicholas.  The anniversary day of his death was celebrated as his feast day on December 6th. 

The protestant reformation of the 16th century banned all feasting and veneration of Catholic saints.  (There’s always a party pooper...)  But the feast of St. Nicholas was so beloved the populace was reluctant to give it up, so it became combined with the nearby holiday of Christmas.  (…and there’s always a way around them.) 

A German legend becomes blended with this tradition in the form of the Christ child, or Christkindl, who left gifts in homes into which he gained entry via keyholes.  This German word corrupted over the years into today’s familiar Kris Kringle. 

The man in red is getting closer now.  We’ve got name recognition, anonymous gifting, windows and keyholes so far. 

Ever so appropriately, one Christmas day in the latter part of the 17th century Dutch immigrants landed in America, bringing with them the legend of Sinter Klaas.  This version of St. Nicholas was alleged to have ridden around town every Christmas eve distributing gifts.  But it wasn’t all whistles and baby dolls.  He rode in company with a figure called Black Peter who would inflict whippings on naughty children.  This line from a popular song, “So be good for goodness sake,” takes on a bit more threatening tone in the light of this information, doesn’t it? 

Roughly a century later, this Sinter Klaas character first appeared in media as St. A. Claus.  The ominous personage of Black Peter faded from view,  to the relief of children far and wide. 

In 1822, the precursor to our modern image of the American Santa Claus emerged from the words of poem written by Clement Clarke Moore, “The Night before Christmas.”  He was portrayed as a shape shifting elf that could change size by simply laying a finger on the side of his nose.  This is how we learned what a vital role the chimney actually played in Santa’s nocturnal shenanigans.

But it hasn’t even been a century since the true modern version of the American Santa Claus was born.  The image of Santa as a human sized, portly man with a white beard and kind, twinkling eyes was honed by artist Haddon Sundblom in the employ of Coca-Cola.  Beginning in 1931 he created a series of billboards and other advertisements that have perfected the image of our modern day Santa Claus. 

Although we have come to what might be called the nationally recognized image of Santa Claus, there is ample room for interpretation.  Here at Carson Wrapped Hershey's our artists have exercised their full creativity to produce a variety of wrappers that feature this illustrious icon of indulgence that some of us--many decades into life--still believe in. 

A Sac Full...

Last month, we sent a package to Sac City, Iowa. Sac City is a rural town in Northwest Iowa. In 1855 Judge Eugene Criss erected the first log cabin in Sac City. This helped establish him in the hotel business. He is known as the father of Sac City. The city was incorporated in 1874. More importantly, the city has the word sac in its name. The word sac is a glorious word. So many good things have the word sac (or sack) in them. There are potato sacks, which are good for transporting the delicious tuber and for racing in. You can sack the quarterback. You can get a sack of fries from White Castle. When you are tired you can hit the sack. The U.S. dollar coin is named after Sacagawea. You can live on a cul-de-sac. The bursa sac serves many functions inside your body. A woman's ovary is known as an egg sac. Spiders carry all of their eggs in an egg sac. Virtually any bag can be called a sack. You can take a sack lunch somewhere. The sound of the word is cool too. It is one syllable. It has power when you say it. Santa Claus carries a sack full of goodies to deliver to children on Christmas every year. I would have to say that sack is one of my top 5 favorite words. If you examine it yourself, I think it will be in your top 5 as well.

Rush Processing is a Winner

Carrie is just one of many customers we’ve helped out at the last minute.  Our standard processing time is short, but with rush processing we can help out nearly everyone.  Carson won’t let you down…

	Hi there!!  My name is Carrie, and me and my family had ordered candy bars from you guys!! I just wanted to tell everyone thank you so much!! The candy turned out WONDERFUL, and were a big hit at our party!! We had a surprise birthday party for my mom, she turned 50. Me and my 3 siblings are sending her to Vegas and she didn't know that either! The candy was a perfect match, being the Vegas logo, it was awesome!!  We had ordered a calender from walmart to show my mom what days that we were gonna send her, and they failed to mail it out on time, even with us paying extra for overnight shipping, we never received it, and now were trying to figure out where our lost calender is!! But you guys are amazing, you guys shipped them and we got them, we really appreciated that!! Well I will stop blabbing!! Thanks again, I see us ordering from this site again!!

¡La Familia Carson!The Carson Family!

¡La Familia Carson!

El 2007 será mi primer año en el cual desde Enero a Diciembre he trabajado para la compañía Carson, y pensé que esta es una gran oportunidad para agradecerle a todas las personas que trabajan conmigo y especialmente a Scott and Sharon Frederick, quienes día a día me hacen sentir que soy una persona especial y que mi trabajo es importante. Estoy segura que todos las personas que forman parte de Carson opinan de la misma manera, en Carson no solo somos compañeros de trabajo, somos Familia. Para mi es una bendición inmensa trabajar en un ambiente donde cada persona me ofrece una sonrisa, y donde yo puedo trabajar con una sonrisa en mi rostro, porque sé que lo que hago cada día ayuda a La Familia Carson a crecer y a extender nuestra dulzura a muchas bocas y corazones alrededor del mundo.

Carola Stiver

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The Carson Family!

2007 will be the first full calendar year that I have worked for Carson, and I thought  this is a great opportunity to say thank you to every person that works with me, especially to Scott and Sharon Frederick, who every day make me feel special and that what I do is important. I am sure that every person that is part of Carson thinks the same way, at Carson we are not only workmates, we are Family. It is an immense blessing for me to be able to work in a place where every person gives me a smile, and where I have a smile on my face because I know that what I do helps the Carson Family to grow, and to expand our sweetness to many mouths and hearts around the world.

Carola Stiver

Golfing For A Good Cause

Working at my desk recently (very diligently as usual) Scott spoke these words to me…”Hey Matt, I want you to play in the company sponsored Go Red golf tournament coming up”…instantly, I was mentally cleaning my clubs.

The said event was held at the Shaker Run Golf Club on October 2nd and for me, it was the highest quality golf course I have ever had the privilege to play the world’s best game on…even the golf carts had GPS. I did hear rumors from one of my comrades during our round that the talented ‘Michelle Wie’ had graced the course with her presence in times gone by, meaning the course had to be in tip top shape. (Tip top is English for awesome, just in case you were wondering)

The charity event was for Go Red,  which is a foundation for the fight against heart disease, specifically in women. With the newly found antioxidant health benefits in dark chocolate and the chance to support the local community, we showed up ready to hit the hallowed fairways, our Hershey Special Dark bars wrapped with the Go Red labels already in place for the after event dinner.  Our team consisted of 4 avid and exceptionally talented golfers which were none other than:  Scott Frederick, Matt Riley (yours truly), Tom Lutz & Steve Lutz. We didn’t win the scramble through the majestic scenery of Lebanon Ohio, but we did play some exquisite shots from time to time. Scott's putter rescued us on many occasion draining 20+ footers with nonchalant aplomb. I am hard pressed to forget my 5 iron which I shaped around the trees blind and stuck 10 feet from the pin. Tom and Steve Lutz made a formidable dad & lad acquisition to our foursome, and I learned a lot from two people who spend more time than I can dream of on the fairways and hit the ball much straighter more often than I can.

The Go Red golf classic was played by 92 men & women and raised $38,000 on the day to aid in the fight against heart disease in women. There were many ladies dressed in Go Red gear zooming around the course on the carts that day, which for no other reason than historical curiosity made me wonder why the founders of the game in ‘‘Bonnie Old Scotland’’ named the sport G.O.L.F; which actually stands for ‘Gentleman Only Ladies Forbidden!’ Thankfully the rules and regulations have mellowed over the centuries and this type of mentality has waned. The ladies pro golf tour, the LPGA,  is actually increasing in size and following and the women on the tour can certainly give the guys a game.

A great time was had by all and for a good cause to boot. I mean seriously, there are very few things better than raising money for charity, eating dark chocolate and of course playing the game of all games with good company and sunshine……did I hear an Amen?

A Hershey’s Thanksgiving

In addition to the traditional Pumpkin Pie dessert every Thanksgiving, my mom always makes something to please the chocolate-lovers in our family…Mint Brownies! I recommend this recipe to anyone who is looking for something sweeter on Thanksgiving. If you’re like me and would rather buy pre-made brownie mix, skip Steps 1-3 and follow the directions on the box. Don’t forget to include your favorite Hershey’s ingredients!

Diane’s Mint Brownies

Ingredients for 24 Servings:

• 3 sticks plus 6 tablespoons butter or margarine, divided
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 eggs
• 3/4 cup Hershey's Cocoa
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 2/3 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon water
• 1 teaspoon mint extract
• 4 drops green food coloring
• 1 cup Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate Chips

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 13” x 9” baking pan.
2. Melt 2 sticks of butter in the microwave. Stir in granulated sugar and vanilla. Add eggs; Beat well. Add cocoa, flour and baking powder. Beat until well blended. Pour batter into the greased pan.
3. Bake 30 - 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in centers comes out clean.
4. Cool completely on wire rack.
5. Prepare the Mint Cream by combining powdered sugar, 1 stick of butter, water, mint extract and food coloring. Beat until smooth. Spread evenly on brownies. Cover & refrigerate until cold.
6. Prepare the Chocolate Glaze by melting together 6 tablespoons of butter and the chocolate chips. Stir until smooth. Cool slightly & pour on top of the chilled Mint Cream. Cover & refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving.

A First Peek at Our New Baby Shower Designs

Designing wrappers here at Carson can be a lot of fun, especially when you're privileged to create a special one for family and friends. Just recently, the Carson Graphic Design Team was assigned the task of creating new Baby Shower wrapper designs. I was excited because a friend of mine was going to have a baby soon and wanted a way to thank everyone for coming to her baby shower and also share an ultrasound image she had of her beautiful baby girl. She also wanted to include a meaningful and very appropriate bible verse. Everyone at the shower enjoyed receiving one of these sweet thank you chocolate bars.

“The candy bars were a huge, huge success! Everybody loved them. They were great. I'm going to put one in her scrapbook...”

Thank you so much,
Laurie

This wrapper and many other new and unique baby shower designs will soon be available at wrappedhersheys.com. Watch for our fun new Graduation and First Communion wrappers too.

Fundraiser a Huge Success!

We receive many requests for information about using our personalized Hershey’s bars for fundraising.  Our graphic team can create a fantastic wrapper announcing your organizations mission or cause, contact details or thank you message.  Everyone loves chocolate and we’ve found time and time again that this is a great way to raise money.  Below is an example of how one of our customers used our bars for a very special organization.

"We can’t thank Carson’s enough for your help to our organization.  The Anna Foundation For Inclusive Education (www.affie.org) is a non-profit agency that assists schools with educating individuals who have Down syndrome.  We provide tutoring services for children who have Down syndrome and are in an inclusive program.  We also provide education to students who share a class or school with a person who has Down syndrome.  We are currently working on a training program for education professionals who have children with Down syndrome in their class or school.

With Carson’s guidance, we were able to kick off our first fundraiser for the Anna Foundation!  Your creative department helped us create candy bars with our own logo and website on the front of the bars and a thank you for donations written on the back.

Your team at Carson’s even helped us determine what would be a good price for the candy bars by sharing what others have done with us.  We used your advice and placed a $3 price on the regular sized candy bars and a $5 price on the larger candy bars.  Instead of suggesting that people “buy” the candy, we told them that for their $3 “donation” we would thank them with a candy bar and the same for the $5 “donation”.  We had almost 200 candy bars to sell over an October weekend at our area WalMart.  We went through all but 50 candy bars and we collected over $1,000 for our organization!

Thank you so much for your assistance Carson!  This fundraiser was a huge success for our group and got many people in our community aware of our organization!  We will be repeating this fundraiser in the future!"
-  Lin Rubright – a personal customer and a corporate customer

(PS Michelle, as a mom of six little girls – WE LOVE the quick, personal ways we can say “thank you” at all our birthday parties with Carson candy bars!  We also enjoy the fun holiday goodie bags as hand out to teachers, bus drivers, basketball coaches, Girl Scout leaders, etc.  After all, who doesn’t like a little chocolate with their holiday!  Thanks for helping a busy mom still take time to be nice to others!)

Hershey's and Brad Paisley

I’ve only been to one concert after my Rascal Flatts adventures in August, and that concert was Brad Paisley. It just so happened to be sponsored by Hershey’s. We had asked for tickets to see him from Hershey about a month before the date, October 5th. They never got back to us. Until the day of the concert, that is.

I basically woke up that morning with no tickets to the show and an assumption that the show wasn’t sold out. The show didn’t sell out when he was with Carrie Underwood last year, and we had left that show early, so we didn’t see Brad. It wouldn’t sell out now. Would it?

So, my dad picks me up from school with my sister Chase. He gives us two pieces of paper from Hershey’s. One with a schedule, and one reading this:

“Congrats, Scott Frederick! You and another person get the VIP treatment and get to meet Brad Paisley!”

Not those words exactly of course… But you get my point. Of course, I start jumping up and down in my seat, thinking that I would be the one going with my dad to meet him. But he says to me that Chase was getting it since I had my Rascal Flatts adventures that summer.

Now, we are talking about Chase. Chase, the ANTI-COUNTRY.

Chase?

Meeting Brad Paisley?

I held my feelings, thinking: I’m so happy for Chase! She might even meet Taylor Swift, who was opening for Brad, along with Rodney Atkins. She loves Taylor.

Me, Julie (our former babysitter, who remains a good friend with our family), and Kristy (Julie’s friend), however, were still ticketless.

So we get home, and according to the schedule, Chase and my dad have to leave right right away to get to Riverbend. So it’s just me and my mom, waiting for Julie. And of course, I lost it in front of her. CHASE! MEETING BRAD PAISLEY! And then to make matters much, much worse, we go online to Ticketmaster to get tickets that you can print out. “Tickets for this show are unavailable at this time.” So we check Riverbend’s website.

Sold out?

So Julie comes. We were getting ready to scalp three tickets. And then all the sudden, I get a call from dad right before we go to Julie’s house to pick up Kristy.

And apparently, he was working his ways on the Hershey people to get us to meet Brad and have good seats.

We quickly called Kristy, telling her to head straight to Riverbend. Stat. Dad called again. He got the passes.

AHHHHHHHHH.

Well, almost.

One Meet and Greet/Backstage Pass wasn’t going to come to us. We called Kristy to tell her, and she was fine with just being in the VIP section. We get there, met up with my dad, Chase, and Kristy, and all the sudden, we had gotten the third pass. We were all going to meet Brad Paisley. All that from almost having to scalp tickets. Absolute luck. That’s all I can say.

I ended up meeting Taylor Swift with Chase as well, and Chase got to meet Rodney Atkins. Taylor was extremely nice, and simply the tallest girl I’ve ever seen. Much taller than me, 5’1½”. Meeting Brad was also amazing, as he called me “darling.” And after the concert, Chase even started saying that she thought Brad Paisley was “hot” along with me. Now, she just needs to start liking Rascal Flatts…

Anyway, our tickets were in the middle, and while they weren’t very close to the stage, it was much better than my lawn seat assumption that morning. All in all, an amazing night, and certainly one I’m going to remember for a long time.

Now, soon enough, I’ll be Rascal Flattin’ all night… *wink*

Read More About the Concert »

Football & Chocolate

I run the wrapping machine here at Carson.  This past August my 4 year old grandson Damien started playing football for the New Miami Vikings.  It has been a very interesting summer.  The boys have had a good time.  I wanted to do something special for them, so of course I ordered candy bars.  I put their team picture on the front with a congratulatory message on the back.  The boys really liked them.  Most said they would “save them forever and ever.”  So if you’d like to see some real good football, go watch your local little pro team.  They are awesome.

Vicki Evans
#32’s Grandma

Hello,

I am attaching a picture of my son's Football team.  They recently received your bars with their team picture on it complements of Vicki Evans, one of your employee's.  I wanted to see what other products you offered and in viewing your web site came across a blog.  I was a little upset that I could not share their picture with everyone on the page but would like it if someone would.  They loved it that they had their "own" candy bar.  My son did not want to eat his so he could "keep it forever and ever".  Thankfully she handed out 2 for each child.  I think you have a wonderful product and will keep you in mind for future events.  And these are the faces that won me over....

Thanks,
Jessica Whitaker
Proud Parent of #3

Betty, Goldie & The Place Setting

Last Wednesday, the 31st of October was Halloween. And for those of you who don’t know, this is a serious event around Carson. Complete with trick-or-treating, Costume Contests and Apple Cider, this year’s Halloween Party was a hit. The costumes made the day, true to form our fearless leaders did not disappoint with Ugly Betty and her love interest Henry leading the way! Everyone got into the act, even the Hippies in the phone center. Best Group Costume was awarded to the Silver Ware in marketing. The No Mercy Hospital in Shipping was a haunt also. But, yours truly won the best-dressed award as Goldie Locks, although I couldn’t have done it without my amazing trio of Bears!

You can still spot a few pieces of Halloween candy around, but with the amount of sweet tooth’s here I can guarantee you it will be gone very soon. Thankfully there is over 13,000 lbs. of chocolate in our shipping and receiving area, so I think we’ll be o.k. until next years Halloween.

- Mike

Taste Test

Dark chocolate has really grown on me as I get older and sample a greater variety of chocolates on a regular basis.  I tell everyone that eating chocolate is part of my job.

Recently, I brought in several different dark chocolates made by Hershey’s for our entire group to sample.  Hershey’s has definitely capitalized on Americans new found love for Dark Chocolate, which has more traditionally been a European favorite.  Ask many Europeans who love chocolate what they think about milk chocolate, and what you will hear is not very pleasant. I would not have any kids around, because the response may contain an expletive or two.

After the tasting was complete.. meaning everyone had eaten all the chocolate I put out in the break room at Carson, I asked everyone to email me their thoughts on what they had tasted.  Here were the selections they had to choose from.

And here was the feedback I got..

"The mint one was great! They need one with raisins next."
-Kim Bires

"I tried the coffee bits, it had a few too many bits in it for me, I had trouble getting the bits out of my teeth.  It could be a great pick me up if you needed it.  I do like the dark chocolate though now, never used to."
-Dee Stammer

"Just wanted to let you know I enjoy the dark chocolate alot!!"
Thanks Again, Gail

It is safe to say that little by little, many of the Carson team is coming over to the “dark side” .. dark chocolate that is ..

Recently, Pam Bottles, one of our fun loving marketing associates, took the whole chocolate taste testing thing a little too far for me however, and actually brought in a chocolate bar her Dad had purchased for $7.25 that actually had BACON BITS in it.. that’s right, a bacon chocolate bar !

Well I love chocolate, but I just could not make myself try the bacon bar.  I immediately took the bar to our resident taste bud daredevil, Matt, who is in our customer care center, to see if he was brave enough to try the bacon bar, and sure enough he did.. two whole squares. I think Jennifer also tried some..

Strangely enough, neither of them had to spit it out, and even said it was not that horrible, but I just could not make myself give the bacon bar a try. 

I guess as the saying goes, “to each their own” but I’ll have my chocolate with nuts, fruit and maybe even some nugget, Carmel or marshmallow, but please.. hold the bacon.

Johnny’s 60th Birthday

As a young boy growing up in Hamilton, Ohio  I was fortunate in many ways.  My grandfather was an engineer at a General Motors stamping plant in town, and somehow in the early 70’s met and became close friends with Johnny Bench when he joined the Cincinnati Reds as a rookie.  Even though I was too young to appreciate the significance at the time, I spent a lot of time around the Big Red Machine players, who won the World Series in both 1975 and 1976.  As I look back, I definitely understand how this team is now revered as one of the best ever in Major League Baseball.

Johnny’s 60th birthday is December 7th this year, and they had a small gathering of friends and family in Cincinnati on October 29th at the best rib joint this side of Texas, the Montgomery Inn Boathouse.  The Montgomery Inn is a Cincinnati tradition, and has served famous athletes, celebrities and U.S. Presidents for many years.  Bob Hope  was particularly fond of the ribs and the great sauce served at the Montgomery Inn, and for many years had them flown to his home in California every New Year’s Eve.

So anyway, we are at the boathouse, about 50 people on a Monday night, eating ribs and telling stories, while celebrating Johnny’s birthday.  One of our graphic designer’s Mike Reuter  had designed a very special wrapper for a 5 pound Hershey’s bar for us to give Johnny that pictured him as a young catcher and also showed him when he was inducted into the Major League Hall of Fame with the phrase."A Hall of Famer at any Age".  It turned out great, and JB loved it.

About an hour into the gathering, Johnny left the room and walked back in saying, "Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States" and in walked behind him one in the same, George Bush. Everyone was absolutely shocked.

I will admit that George Bush has gone down many pegs on my board with his political maneuvers over the last several years, but the fact remains, he represents the most powerful office in our country, and his position is one that I have a tremendous amount of respect for as an American.  Johnny has been a steady supporter of Republicans for many years, and I know that the fact that the President was in town for only a short period of time for a fundraiser, and stopped by for just a few minutes to wish him a happy birthday, was a tremendous honor.  The President also took home a few slabs of ribs with him as well, because you can’t go to the Montgomery Inn and not get the ribs.

Thanksgiving… a Little Food for Thought

History is a fascinating topic.  While it’s easy to understand the source of a given tradition, the depth of the original meaning behind it can sometimes be clouded by the passage of time and the changes of lifestyle.  Even so, Americans today cherish this important holiday and sometimes try to celebrate it in new and creative ways. 

In 1621, a small group of newcomers to the northeastern coast gathered together with some local residents in celebration of friendship and thanks.  We have little concept today, in the day of modern mega stores and a more or less united society, of the tenuous position of the lives of our forebears from one season to the next.  Most of us have never suffered the indignity of playing tug-o-war with a rat over the last scrap of moldy bread, or the marked astonishment of receiving butterfly kisses from the fletching of an arrow whizzing past our cheek.  Therefore, the giving of thanks for a good harvest and brotherhood between neighbors would carry a depth of feeling for these hardy souls many of us can scarcely imagine.

Through several starts and stops over the centuries, the tradition has survived and is going strong today, if perhaps with (gratefully) lighter hearts.  Carson helps celebrate that with a variety of delightful Thanksgiving wrapper designs people use as personalized party favors or greetings.  My mother purchased our “Autumn Squares” bars and brought them to a church retreat.  She made some darling cloth pumpkin centerpieces for the tables and arranged the bars in circles around them, one for each guest at each table.  She excitedly reported that they were a huge hit and everyone raved over how wonderful and clever they found them to be.

Candy bars around tables in a comfortable building with well-feasted merry makers is far removed from the original Thanksgiving dinner.  However, our ancestors made the journey and suffered the hardships in the hope that someday their descendants would live in a land of freedom and plenty.  To say they were successful is putting it mildly, and we have not forgotten that.  We honor you, brave pilgrims; and we’ve got the candy bars to prove it!

It’s in the Mail

The holidays are a busy time for everyone.  Family events, decorating, baking and shopping…  Let Carson help you check one item off your list by taking advantage of our mailing service for holiday greetings bars.  You can select and order your holiday bars then send us your greeting card list – and we’ll do the rest.  Bars are placed in a festive holiday mailer and sent directly from Carson.  We offer this service for 1.55oz bars at $2.50/recipient or 5oz bars at $3.50/recipient. To read more about our Holiday mailing service, click here.