Holidays of the Decade
2000-2010 and Beyond

Where we've been so far for the holidays...

Over the years, we've attempted to decorate the site to reflect the holiday season. We've tried to avoid the Merry Christmas debate, as we figured those who celebrated Christmas would know what we meant, and those who didn't celebrate Christmas would still enjoy the seasonal appearance changes, knowing we were attempting to acknowledge everyone's interests during this time of year. We didn't want to offend anyone, and we didn't want to disrespect anyone, we just wanted to put our own signature on the holiday season, whatever that may be to the good people who visited the site.

(Cue up your best Rod Serling "Twilight Zone" voice...) So here we present for your inspection...our entire decade-long history of holiday graphics and greetings. Yes, we had a few hits and misses along the way, and some of them in retrospect turned out better than others. We apparently don't have a record of our first year's efforts, but we are certain we did do something. Nevertheless, they were all done with thanks and respect for you, our visitors. We hope you liked them, and if you didn't we at least hope our attempts gave you a good laugh.

2000

We must have missed the Holidays in 2000, as we can't locate any record of a specific graphic created to celebrate the season. Someone suggested that we used the 2001 graphic twice, but we can't be certain that's what really happened.

We were on a different server with a different host in 2000, so it's possible something we created was left behind when we said goodbye and moved on. We're pretty good about saving things, however, so if anything ever turns up, we'll add it here when it does.

2001

Now what could be better than Santa Claus revealing his true mode of transportation? Rudolph and the other Reindeer require some rest and relaxation before their worldwide flight to deliver presents on Christmas Eve, so Santa drives a Candyapple Red 1970 Ford Thunderbird Fordor Landau—complete with power sunroof, of course—the rest of the year.

We always knew Santa Claus had good taste!

You can revisit our 2001 Holiday Greeting, which included A Soldier's Night Before Christmas, an update on the old holiday tale that reflected the mood the country was in at the time.

2002

For the 2002 holiday season, we took a look back at Holiday 1959 using a "Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow..." theme, complete with a Colonial White 1959 Ford Thunderbird Hardtop and a happy couple enjoying a ski trip for Christmas.

The snowy scene featured the car against the gray skies at disk, the headlights were on to light the area, and the red glow of the big round tail lamps was just visible at the rear of the car.

This was the last Christmas of the fifties, and we didn't have much else to say, as we were involved in war at the time, and our thoughts were with our troops and their families.

Our 2002 Holiday Greeting was incorporated into the December 2002 feature of The Showroom At Automotive Mileposts. (We even updated the coding on this page to restore the original snowfall effect that no longer worked due to browser updates over the years!)

Speaking of "Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow", here's Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme to put you in the holiday mood! (You can listen while you peruse the rest of the page.)

2003

2003 saw our first site logo revision for the holidays, a tradition that has continued in the years since. The simple graphic offered a Happy Holidays sentiment from Everyone at AutomotiveMileposts.com, and featured a series of six gift packages lined up across the bottom. All of them green except for a single red one, fifth in line from the left, which we suspect may have been the best gift of the bunch.

We apparently didn't have a holiday greeting this year, as we haven't located one so far.

2004

Our holiday logo for 2004 was a bit more decorative than the previous year's logo, but lacked the whimsy of the red gift box. Two golden bells tied with a red bow and greenery, with the red and green "Happy Holidays" sentiment in script to the right.

Below, AutomotiveMileposts.com spelled out in gold lettering to identify the site. Our 2004 Holiday Greeting was a repeat of the poem used in 2001. This time, we were able to identify the original author, and it had been updated and renamed as Merry Christmas, My Friend. We were still at war, and our thoughts were with those whose lives were touched the most by this event.

2005

Another new design was presented for 2005, this time with an image of wrapped presents on the left of the logo. We brought back one green and one red gift box from 2003, and retained our holiday sentiment of Happy Holidays. Four green diamonds were placed above the AutomotiveMileposts.com text, which was also in green, and placed at the bottom of the image.

Our 2005 Holiday Greeting returned to the classic car pictured in a winter setting theme. This time, the car was a 1969 Continental Mark III parked in a snowy yard in front of a contemporary home with large glass wall panels. A male leaned against the car, holding skis.

2006

By 2006, it seemed we were involved in an endless war. Casualties were mounting, and much of the country had grown weary of the conflict, which many were now questioning if the cost was really worth it. Our 2006 holiday logo featured a silver satin background with a vivid red border. The site name appeared in capital letters at the top, and below that our traditional greeting Happy Holidays appeared in smaller text, also in red. Peace On Earth was placed directly below the sentiment in white lettering, and three large red gift boxes were spaced out along the bottom.

Our 2006 Holiday Greeting continued this theme, with a crisp Cotillion White 1970 Cadillac Fleetwood Eldorado posed in front of an older model Cadillac in the background. The Eldorado featured a black vinyl roof and a vivid red leather interior.

"Happy Holidays from Automotive Mileposts" appeared in red script along the top of the image, and a simple note of thanks to our visitors for their support and well wishes for 2007 appeared below the image.

2007

After 2006's rather somber graphic, we wanted to liven things up a bit for 2007. Festive red and green ornaments were clustered in the background, and the "Happy Holidays" sentiment in white "Mary Tyler Moore Show" font was separated by a white wreath with a white bow. Below that, Automotive Mileposts appeared in our traditional font to mark the site.

The choice of font for " Happy Holidays" was suggested by a staff member, who had been watching reruns of The Mary Tyler Moore Show on television. A comment was made that the show represented better times and a higher level of hope and confidence for the future. And we thought that would be a subtle touch that most wouldn't recognize.

For our 2007 Holiday Greeting, a 1965 Imperial Crown Coupe in a beautiful shade called Silver Mist is the focus of our greeting. Parked on a brick surface, the edges of the photo are dark, a reflection of many people's feelings at the time. The interior is red leather, and a matching red border surrounds the photo. The page background matches the red and green ornaments in the logo.

We wrote our own sentiment this year, again wishing for peace on Earth.

2008

We'll be honest and tell you that 2008 was a tough year for some of us at Automotive Mileposts. In an attempt to break out of our somber mood, we decided to toss tradition aside and go with a snazzy theme of horizontal lines in very un-holiday-like colors. Lavender, orange, rust, yellow, light blue, gray, green, and white gave the background a textured look, and a white gift with red ribbon appeared at the left side of the design. "Happy Holidays" was at the top, to the right of the gift, and the site name appeared on two separate lines below that.

Because our logo was so non-traditional, we wanted our 2008 Holiday Greeting to be more typical. And so it was. A 1978 Cadillac Fleetwood Eldorado Coupe finished in Canyon Copper Firemist was the featured car, and it was parked in the snow at a ski lodge. A new rendition of our red and green gift boxes appeared, with "Happy Holidays" also in red and green lettering (once again, Mary Tyler Moore font).

2009

The recklessness continued for 2009, with a retro design of turquoise, to reflect a 1950's Miami Beach Christmas theme. The Mary Tyler Moore font appeared again, this time in a lime green shade offering the "Happy Holidays" greeting.

A geometric pattern of white, dark blue, aqua, and lilac-colored lines decorated the turquoise background, along with white and dark blue snowflake designs. AutomotiveMileposts.com appeared at the bottom in white lettering.

We continued the fifties turquoise holiday theme for our 2009 Holiday Greeting. A scene of 1955 Christmas shopping in New England featured a then brand new 1956 Continental Mark II. There was snow on the ground, and the town square was bustling with holiday shoppers, rushing to get ready for the holidays.

Oh, and in case you missed it: here's our 2010 New Year's Greeting!

2010

We're not certain if we've saved the best for last, but it is what it is. Our 2010 holiday logo is a design of blurred Christmas lights in the background, in multi color. "Happy Holidays" appears in white lettering along the top, and a notation of "10 Years 2000-2010" appears along the left and right edges, separated in the center by a holly leaf design in red, white, and green. At the bottom, Automotive Mileposts is in white lettering with a black outline.

Our virtual Christmas card, the 2010 Holiday Greeting, also reflects a 1950's Christmas, once again the year is 1955. A red 1956 Cadillac Sedan deVille is depicted along with a happy couple, apparently dressed for a formal event. She is the recipient of the Cadillac as she's just removed the keys to her new car from a gold gift box. In the background, a Christmas Tree is decorated with purple, green, and gold ball ornaments, and a sole white Angel is placed on the tree.

Here's our 2011 New Year's Greeting—with best wishes to all for a great 2011!

2011

Automotive Mileposts took on a simpler, more traditional theme this year with a basic red and green color scheme. Red, white, and green stripes accent some of the pages.

Our focus this year has been developing our Twitter and Facebook accounts, but we will return to regular on-site updates in the coming year.

We will add our 2011 Holiday Greeting shortly. Thanks for your loyalty and support this year. Wishing everyone the best holiday season ever!

We have restored the original appearance of our Holiday Greeting pages, using the correct holiday logo design for that year. Each page appears today as it did when first published. Thank you for being a part of the holiday season here at Automotive Mileposts.