Lance, a woodcarver, and his wife Kim, a college art major, combined their talents in 1986 to launch their own business. Throughout most of Christmas Spirit®'s 20 years, they have carved their exquisite pieces for our shop. In appreciation of their talents and to honor their accomplishments, we are featuring them in this issue of our newsletter. Bar Harbor, Maine’s Christmas Spirit® Shop will pay for standard shipping to one address for all orders placed on its Website www.ChristmasSpiritShop.com by March 30, 2010. To receive this special offer, enter the promotion code CARVE at the bottom of the address collections page during your checkout process. Lance & Kim with 7 of their 8 children A Family of Artisans Maine theme Santa with Moose Click the photo for more info As with many of our artisans, carving is a family business. Here’s how it all began. Lance’s original career was in law enforcement. To relieve the stress of work, Kim taught Lance to carve using tools from her college days. They began by traveling to art shows and demonstrating in art galleries and gift shops. To maintain an active business and a family life, they have home schooled each of their 8 children since the oldest was in Kindergarten. These days, all the children contribute to their parents' livelihood; six of the children are established woodcarvers themselves. Theirs is truly a family business. 20th Anniversary Designs For years, Lance has been carving Santas for our shop that are unique to Maine. For that reason, this year we asked him to carve a special Santa in honor of the 20th Anniversary of our Christmas Spirit® Shop. The Santa is holding a sack full of Maine "treasures"-a whale, a puffin, a moose, a lighthouse and a lobster. He has carved it in two sizes and styles; a "Slicker" Santa with yellow raingear and the traditional Santa with a red outfit. 20th Anniversary Maine "Slicker" Santa Click the photo for more info 20th Anniversary Traditional Maine Santa Click the photo for more info 20th Anniversary Maine "Slicker" Santa Click the photo for more info 20th Anniversary Traditional Maine Santa Click the photo for more info Custom Designs Samantha with Santa Click the photo for more info Lance will also carve custom designs for our customers. He is already incorporating a design idea that came from one of our customers, a dog sitting with Santa. We asked him to carve a Santa with our mascot Samantha, so you could see what he can do. Some other designs Lance customizes are the Country Santas, like the Irish and American ones shown here, and college theme Santas. If you are trying to find just the right gift for someone and are interested in customizing a Santa, now is the time to contact us. Due to the enormous demand for Lance’s work, he can only carve these custom designs from January through September. Orders for custom designs must be finalized and prepaid by August 31 for Christmas delivery. Once we send your idea to Lance, it takes at least 4 weeks to complete your carving. If you are interested in a custom design, please contact us. Irish Santa Click the photo for more info Appalachian State University Santa Click the photo for more info American Santa Click the photo for more info Old World St. Nicholas Maine theme Santa with Moose Click the photo for more info Lance uses only knives and chisels to create his carvings, giving them a rough-hewn Old World feel. Kim hand-paints her husband's carvings, choosing just the right colors to complement the wood tones. Their carvings have a Medieval appearance, similar to the Black Forest carvings of Germany. Lance & Kim's Santas come in all sizes as you can see from these photos. Santa Ornament Click the photo for more info Moon Santa Ornament Click the photo for more info Carved Plates The carved wooden plates were one of Lance’s original backdrops for his Santas. He hand turns these wooden plates on a lathe himself in order to get the right depth for his carvings. He then carves his Old World Santa and Nativity designs into the plate, and Kim finishes the plates with her painting. Nativity Plate Click the photo for more info Carved Birds Lance's birds on Manzanitas branch Click the photo for more info Lance can carve almost anything from wood. Since many of our customers collect birds, we asked Lance to carve some bird ornaments for our shop. Lance’s bird carvings are done in a rough-hewn style which is extremely popular with our customers. The chisel strokes give the carvings a texture which creates depth and an illusion of feathers. Here is a picture from one of our customers, who collects his birds and displays them on a Manzanitas branch, year-round. Carved Puffin Click the photo for more info Carved Hummingbird Click the photo for more info Reminder - Get FREE SHIPPING year-round Just a reminder for 2010, in celebration of our 20th Anniversary, we are still offering you, our loyal customers, a special offer good any time this year. For all orders of $20.00 or more, placed on our Website, the Christmas Spirit® Shop will pay for standard shipping to one address when you use the promo code NEWS. So, for example, if you want to order something for Easter after our New Carvings promotion ends, you can still get FREE shipping. Just order $20.00 or more and enter the promotion code NEWS at the bottom of the address collections page during your checkout process. Easter Ornament Click the photo for more info

ISLAND UPDATE
We had a most unusual month of February, with only a few inches of snow along the coast. Most of the precipitation came in the form of rain. However, March came in like a lion with 60 MPH winds off the water, but still very little precipitation. The wind took out 3 signs on Main St., including ours.	Fountain in Bar Harbor's Waterfront Park
Construction of Waterfront Restaurant in Bar Harbor	The unusual direction of the wind also uprooted tall trees already weakened by days of rain. The 1st weekend in March blessed us with sunny, 50 degree days and everyone was out enjoying it. The cover is already off the fountain in the waterfront park. We aren’t too anxious for Spring to arrive later this month, are we?
The unusual weather has also given the winter projects in town a chance to progress nicely. One of the waterfront restaurants is being rebuilt from the ground up (or should we say from the “water” up). The new restroom facility, now called a “Comfort Station”, is entering the home stretch and should be ready for this season of visitors.	Bar Harbor's New Comfort Station

CHRISTMAS SPIRIT®'S SAMANTHA
Throughout most of our 20 years in business, we’ve had a yellow lab mascot. Our 1st was a stray that my parents rescued on a trip from Maine to Florida. Since they found her in Valdosta, GA, we called her “Val”. What a great dog... we called her the “slimer”, because if she got close enough to you she’d “slime” you – plant a kiss, smack on your lips. She caught our little nephew one day under the porch table. Val loved it; my nephew, not so much!	Val-the "slimer"
Val-on the road, again!        Val with her Maine snowbuddy	When we moved to Maine to open our business, Val traveled with us. Oh, how she loved Maine’s great outdoors! Following Val’s passing and after an almost intolerable mourning period, we rescued Samantha. So wonderful to have a yellow lab back in our life!
To honor these wonderful canine members of our family that have been a part of our lives over the past 20 years, we asked Lance to carve a Santa posed with a yellow lab. Our mascots will forever be immortalized in wood! Lance can carve a Santa to immortalize your pets. Contact us for details.	Samantha's Santa

WEBSITE NEWS YOU CAN USE

On the occasion of the 20th Anniversary of our shop, we thought it was only fitting to offer you, our customers, the benefit of our artists’ talent and designs, customized the way you want them. Most of our artists will take custom orders from us during the 1st part of the year. Some require a minimum quantity; some charge more if the request involves designing, then executing the design. Others might make minor changes at no extra charge. On the Navigation Bar, we’ve added a link to the new "Custom Designs" page on our Website. On the Custom Designs page you’ll see examples of some of the pieces our artists have made in the past, organized by media. Each picture has a link to current items by the artist so you can see each artist’s style. Contact Us if you have any specific design requests.

Custom Designs Link on Navigation Bar Click the photo for more info

CUSTOMER TESTIMONIALS
"Love your website! So personable, friendly and family oriented. I ordered ornaments last year and they are AWESOME!! Can't wait to start shopping for my ornaments this year. This is the only place I get my ornaments from! I am from WISCONSIN, but if I ever get to Maine, I will make sure to visit your shop. Thanks for making fun, QUALITY ornaments!" Laurie from WI.	"I just received the ornament that I ordered from your company and it is absolutely wonderful! Great craftsmanship. I couldn't be more pleased with it. I'll be sure to browse your website for more unique items and share your company with family and friends. Thanks!" Susan from AR.
	"I received my order today, everything was great and I love them all, they are going to be gifts. thank you!" Eugenie from NH.

www.ChristmasSpiritShop.com 80 Main Street Bar Harbor, Maine 04609 1-800-242-2913

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