Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Matthew 5:16

• Halloween card-giving is also on the rise. The Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately 35 million Halloween cards will be exchanged in 2008. Although the majority of these cards are sent to young children, humorous adult-to adult card sending is gaining ground, as oldsters share the fun and delight of a holiday they enjoyed as kids.
• Halloween now ranks as the third largest day for parties in the U.S., behind New Year's Eve and Super Bowl Sunday.
• Americans are also transporting the Halloween spirit into their homes, making it the second-largest holiday for home decoration purchases after Christmas.
• It is also the fastest growing greeting card-sending occasion.

Keynote said sites that usually load in two or three seconds were taking an average of 12 seconds or longer.

Problems with Web sites not only frustrate customers but also deprive sites of advertising revenue, especially if a visitor doesn't come back to view or send a card.

The Web site for Hallmark Cards Inc. was inaccessible or slow starting about 6 a.m. EST, according to Keynote. It was back to normal by late morning but got slow again around noon - just as people on the West Coast got to work and opened cards that had arrived in their inboxes, said Shawn White, Keynote's director of external operations.

Keynote said it also spotted problems with 123Greetings.com, and The Associated Press found in a test Thursday afternoon that many pages took several seconds to load. But officials at 123Greetings insisted that less than 1 percent of its visitors experienced slowdowns.

"123Greetings.com experienced record traffic today, one of the highest in its history," the company said in a statement. "Problems at other greeting cards sites caused record volumes of users to come over to our site, and we were happy to welcome them all."

• Approximately one-fourth of individual valentine cards are humorous, with adults aged 35-and-under being the most likely to send humorous cards.
• Valentine's Day is the largest e-card sending occasion of the year. An estimated 14 million e-valentines will be sent in 2008.
• Greeting cards are traditionally the most popular Valentine's Day gift in the U.S., ranking ahead of candy, flowers or dinner out.
• American men may be more serious about Valentine's Day than women. In a national survey for GCA in 2007, 45% of women said they were likely to give a humorous valentine to their sweetheart, compared to only 34% of men.
• The percentage of individual valentines exchanged through the mail in comparison to hand delivery is approximately 50-50.
• Red is the most popular color choice for valentine cards, follow by pink and then white. Hearts, roses, Cupid and lace are traditional valentine card icons.
• Teachers are said to receive more Valentine's Day cards than anyone else in the U.S., largely due to the tradition of classroom valentine exchanges.
• Men tend to purchase more expensive and more romantic valentines than women.
• The first valentines in America were exchanged during the Revolutionary War period. They were handmade and typically featured sentimental verses written in flowing script.
• Esther Howland, a young woman from Massachusetts, was the first regular U.S. publisher of Valentine's Day cards. She sold her first handmade valentine in 1849.

The card image is an exclusive design of Sylvia Shaw Judson's statue "Gardner" welcoming winter to the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden at the White House.

Artist David Drummond was selected by Mrs. Bush to create the original artwork for the card. Drummond is a well-known watercolorist specializing in landscapes.

Drummond's painting is reproduced on the card as a tip-on on elegant stock with a deckle edge. An embossed gold foil presidential seal highlights the insert page.

President and Mrs. Bush selected the following Bible verse from Nehemiah and brief message to be incorporated on the card:

You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.

Halloween party-goers are bobbing for more than just apples. They'll also be on the lookout for candy, costumes and decorations. The average person will spend $23.33 on Halloween costumes (including children's and pet's costumes), though young adults will spend far more. In fact, according to the survey, 18-24 year-olds plan to be the most festive, spending $34.06 on costumes, nearly twice as much as they plan to spend on candy ($19.65). According to the survey, average spending will rise in all categories, including candy ($19.84, decorations ($17.73) and greeting cards ($3.92).