Rural Missouri - December 2019 - 23

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"I think the fun part is all the people you get to
talk to and see, and see where they come from,"
Mary says. "And of course, it's fun too when my kids
call from Kansas City to say, 'we saw you on TV!' "
Volunteers use a well-worn map posted by the
counter to keep track of where the cards originate.
So many come from the area around Noel that the
tri-state intersection of Missouri, Oklahoma and
Arkansas is no longer legible. Groups from Kansas
City and Grove, Oklahoma make a special trip for
the occasion or tie it in with a weekend vacation.
Others from the nearby Arkansas towns of Bella
Vista and Rogers bring their cards in by the load,
some numbering 500 at a time and some making
more than one trip. Mary notes that members of
a Tulsa, Oklahoma car club caravans up to Noel,
sometimes in their classic rides, for the day to
stamp their own cards before heading back.
And yet a fair number of pins are stuck in the
map's borders, indicating what direction they
traveled to Noel from overseas. Predictably, a big
international pen pal is France - where "Noël" is
synonymous with the Christmas season. George,
Mary and Lynn can recount cards that traveled
from England, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Norway
and even a few sent from a pair of Christmas card
collecting siblings in China.
"Christmas Island, Nova Scotia does stamping
up there and they send cards," Dot adds. "But we're
the only Noel in the U.S."
That distinction hasn't lost its charm, as every
year the Yuletide tradition puts Noel in the national
news. However, with the widespread use of email,
social media and online bill pay, postal employees
also have noticed a general downward trend in
letter mail, which has also affected the number of
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They keep busy with a multitude of packages and
presents that arrive on a daily basis, but over the
last three or four years Lynn says she's seen the
number of cards sent for special stamping drop
from 60,000 to around half that amount.
"That's still a lot of Christmas cards to come
through here, but that's a big drop," she says.
If the lower mail count is a sign that the holiday
spirit is dying, then it's going to die hard, if Lynn
has anything to say about it. Aside from the
decorating and holiday cheer that the volunteers
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box customers, for second and third graders at Noel
Elementary School.
"It's nostalgic, it's fun and it's different," Lynn
says. "It's just a little thing we try to do to keep
everybody in the holiday spirit."
Postal employees, volunteers and residents
agree there's something more to the tradition than
simply the novelty of receiving a postcard or letter
in December that happened to be stamped in a town
called "Noel." The cards are a tangible sign not only
that someone was thoughtful enough to think of
someone else during a busy time of year, but that they
went the extra mile to put the special postmarks on
it and send their love and appreciation. The feelings
of friendship and community that have grown
around a few simple stamps here in Noel speak to
the true spirit of the season, and will hopefully keep
the holiday tradition going for years to come.
"We've been known as the Christmas City for so
many years, I don't want it to die out," Dot says.
"I've seen the enjoyment of people receiving it - I've
been one of those people - my friends who have
seen it remark on it every year, and it's just a joy
that comes out at Christmastime. We're just trying
to keep it going."

How to send your
Christmas cards toNoel

:

1. Address and stamp each of your
555+,
2. Package them together in a box or
large envelope

:

, ,

3. Mail them to Post Office 
(% MO 65854

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Harner at 417-475-4053 or email dotharnero@gmail.
com.
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23
Rural Missouri - December 2019

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