Trend Alert: Frosty the Flag Waver

As holiday shoppers get ready for the first post-Sept. 11 Christmas, they will soon be noticing that the traditional red-and-green Christmas cards are sharing the stores with a slew of new ones sporting patriotic red, white and blue. Hallmark, which had only a few days after Sept. 11 to turn out a new patriotic line, reports that those cards are the best-selling ones on its website. And despite fears that anthrax would dissuade people from spreading cheer through the mail this year, Hallmark says its card sales are up 5% from the same period last year.

--By Elizabeth L. Bland