For Keepsake What IS the Magic Word?

As far back as I can remember I have been buying Hallmark Ornaments.   I probably first discovered them when my children were very young.   They make the dated ones for son and daughter.

According to their website, in 1973 Hallmark introduced six glass ball ornaments and 12 yarn figures as the first collection of Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments.Since then there have been more than 100 ornament series.

Although, I think the idea of having every ornament in a particular series kind of neat,  somehow I could never manage to get started on the collection at the right time.

Each year I would go into my favorite Hallmark store and see an ornament that I would like to start collecting.  What usually would happen, though, is, if the ornament was number one in the series,  I would never remember to buy the second in the series the following year.  Or, the ornament would be the third or fourth in the series and I had missed out on number one and number two.

Basically I wasn't very diligent in keeping track of what I had, or what I needed.

They also have this secret club that you can belong to.   It's called the Hallmark Keepsake Ornament Club. Okay, it's not really secret, but somehow I could never manage to join that at the right time either.  

According to the instructions on the website you have to join by Dec. 31 in order to take advantage of the secret things that are available to club members only.

The thing is, you have to download a form, and mail it in.

HUH?  Really?

I guess they figure only those who are willing to make the supreme effort of downloading and filling in the form and then taking it to the post office to mail it are worthy of becoming a member.

Today was my lucky day.  It wasn't too late to become a member.  I downloaded the form.  

But wait, the instructions indicate that you can also call.

"Joining is easy. Just fill out this form and give it to your local Hallmark Gold Crown retailer or get it to us by mail, by fax at 1-800-200-3400 or call us at 1-800-HALLMARK."

Why bother filling out the form, mailing it in and waiting for my secret stuff to arrive?

I'll just call the 800 number.   

But hold on, did they make a mistake in the phone number.   Hall Mark is 8 characters.  Aren't phone numbers usually only 7 characters?

Anyway I dialed it as instructed and I was connected to Hallmark Customer service.

Well not a human, of course.   First I had to navigate through the phone tree.

But with each press of the designated number, I was getting closer and closer to finally becoming an exclusive member of the Hallmark Keepsake Ornament Club.

It was 4:00 p.m. Eastern when I made the call. 

Here is the message I received:

"It's not too late to join.  Here at Hallmark we want to wish you Happy Holidays.  If you wish to enroll please press 1."

So of course I did.

Next message:

"Please wait for the next available representative"

I hear  ring, ring, ring.  I am finally, finally, going to get to become a member!

Next message:"Sorry we are closed."  Please call back during our regular business hours - 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central.

"I am calling during those hours!" I yelled at the message.  

 Apparently, like they neglected to add Monday through Friday to their "We are closed" message.   

I don't know if I will try again tomorrow.  Perhaps I really am not worthy of  being a member of the Hallmark Keepsake Ornament Club.  Anyway I would probably have to learn a secret handshake and sign a confidentiality agreement. 

By the way, in 2004 I bought the first in the "Father Christmas Series".  Nope I didn't buy number 2 in 2005 or number 3 in 2006.  I do have numbers 4, 5, 6, & 7.  And today I bought the 2011 number 8.

I decided it would be nice to try to get numbers 2 and 3. 

I found this website which had those two available.   

The price of number 2 is $139.  The price of number 3 is $162.

The original price was probably less than $20.00.