CONTENTS FEATURE: Meaningful holiday greetings for businesses GRAMMAR COACH: Fielding your questions NET NOTES: Captivating Web sites FINDER'S FEE: Recommend a friend—and earn up to $500 FEATURE: How businesses can make holiday greetings more meaningful     Even though contemporary society has embraced e-mail for routine business and personal correspondence, the tradition of sending printed holiday greeting cards has persevered among households and business organizations. This annual ritual impels distant family members and friends to remain in contact with each other. It also offers businesses a means by which to remember and thank clients, business partners, contractors, government officials and employees.     Despite the prevalence of Christmas decorations in retail stores and offices, many people celebrate holidays other than Christmas. To avoid offending them, business organizations largely gravitated to "season's greetings" as the de facto standard holiday message—even though that phrase makes no literal sense. "Season's greetings" is an odd expression because it is structured in possessive form, as if the greetings belong to or are issued by the season.     A corollary example is contained in the baffling statement "Color choice is taste's matter." Now place "taste's matter" in proper syntax—"Color choice is a matter of taste" and the meaning becomes clear.     "Season's greetings" is a condensed phrase that really is intended to convey a grander message: "At this holiday season, we send you greetings."     Of course, the underlying meaning of "season's greetings" is widely understood, even though it is truncated. But that's of little consequence in comparison to the struggle that many people have when they confront the stark white surface on the inside of those "season's greetings" cards. Writing a message that sounds sincere and avoids clichés can be difficult.     What else can you say besides "best wishes" and "happy holidays"? We have 20 suggestions, arranged by categories. For clients and customers In the spirit of the season, we offer you heartfelt appreciation for your trust and reliance on us. May prosperity remain yours throughout the new year. All of us join in thanking you for your confidence in our products and services. We hope the new year brings you good health, peace, happiness and continued success. In gratitude for our ongoing association, we sincerely wish you a joyful holiday season and a wonderful new year. We would consider this holiday season unfulfilled without telling you how proud we've been to serve you. We pledge our utmost support to help you achieve a productive new year. For business affiliates, partners, directors and shareholders With deepest appreciation for our productive association, we offer you and your family our very best wishes for joyful holidays and a bountiful new year. We're honored and uplifted by your involvement with our organization. We hope you and your family enjoy the riches of the holiday season that you so deeply deserve. The leadership you have demonstrated during the past year has exemplified the ideals of our company. We hope you spend your holiday season in the company of those you hold dear, and we anticipate a mutually productive new year. For employees As the year draws to a close, we offer sincere appreciation for your dedicated service. We wish you and your family happiness and prosperity throughout the new year. I appreciate your diligence and dedication throughout the past year. I offer you best wishes for a wonderful holiday, and anticipate a fruitful future for us all. Throughout the past year, I have valued your imagination and enthusiasm. I hope that at this holiday season, your fondest dreams will flourish. For anyone May the joyousness of the holidays remain with you throughout the coming new year. Our entire organization joins in sending greetings for a happy holiday season and wishes for a wonderful new year. May peace and happiness remain with you through all the seasons of the year. We wish you comfort and joy in the company of beloved family members and friends. May the spirit of Christmas remain with you throughout the coming new year. May the joyful light of the Hanukkah season illuminate your life throughout the coming year. We wish you a joyful holiday season and a new year of peace and happiness. May you and your family experience the blessings of peace and happiness throughout the year. We send you greetings of the season with very best wishes for your happiness in the new year. May you have good reason to celebrate each day of the new year.     Regardless of the specific wording that you choose, make certain that it reflects sincerity. One way to do that is to keep the message short enough so that you and staff members can handwrite it rather than having it imprinted. If the size of your mailing list renders that impractical, at least consider handwriting a salutation (such as "Dear Ralph" or "To our friends at Jones Shipping") and a signature (such as "Sincerely, Betty Crandall").     Doing so will reinforce the impression that you send a card to each recipient out of caring rather than as a routine chore. That personal touch indeed merits a holiday cheer. We're city editors. Our clients include the city of Davis, city of Sacramento and city of Citrus Heights. EditPros can help you write, edit and publish your materials as well. GRAMMAR COACH: Fielding your questions Sarah Archibold submitted this month's question:      "What is the possessive form of 'spouse'?" The grammar coach replies:     Although formation of the possessive case can become complicated with certain nouns, it's straightforward for "spouse" and other singular nouns that end in letters other than "s."     The singular possessive is formed by simply adding apostrophe-s ('s), as in: "Steve is puzzled because his spouse's invitation hasn't arrived yet."     The possessive case of common plural nouns that end in "s" (including "spouses") is formed by adding only an apostrophe to the end of the word. Thus, you would write "Lucy and Ethel enjoyed dinner, but their spouses' meals were cold."     For more information about possessive forms, visit the EditPros newsletter archives at and consult the September 2005, April 2005, November 2004 and November 2001 issues.      Thanks for submitting your question, Sarah.      Are you perplexed by some aspect of grammar or word usage? Don't be shy! Ask the "grammar coach" at EditPros and we'll try to help—at no charge, just for the sport of it. NET NOTES: Captivating Internet resources Investopedia.com investment guide      If you'd like to learn more about investing strategy but you're baffled by some of the terminology, Investopedia can help. This educational site contains tutorial lessons, a dictionary of finance and investment terms, financial calculators and articles about stocks, mutual funds, bonds, trading, personal finance and other topics. The site is segmented for beginners, experienced investors, active traders and retirement. Just Move.org fitness assistance      What better gift could you give yourself than a commitment to improve and maintain your fitness? This site, sponsored by the American Heart Association, can help you determine exercise suitable to your fitness level, answer your fitness-related questions, and let you track your progress through an online exercise diary. Meetup.com directory of local interest groups      If you'd like to get together with people who have interests similar to yours and meet in or near your town, you can find them through this site. You simply enter your interest—for example, photography, quilting, automotive restoration, folk music, people from your childhood home town, political causes, medical conditions—and your postal ZIP code. The site will display information about any groups in your vicinity. Or you can start a group if none exists. Access to the site and basic functions are free of charge. FINDER'S FEE: Recommend a friend—and earn a finder's fee of up to $500      Do you know of a friend or colleague whose office can benefit from EditPros services? If you do, EditPros may reward you with a "finder's fee" of up to $500.           EditPros, established in 1993, performs writing, editing, proofreading and publication management services for newsletters, brochures, Web sites, annual reports, research studies, business proposals and other informational and marketing materials. Our office is in Davis, Calif., between Sacramento and San Francisco.      If you recommend our services to a friend or business colleague, and that introduction leads to an assignment for EditPros, we will award you a "finder's fee" equaling 10 percent of the amount we earn on the first assignment for the new client, up to a maximum finder's fee of $500. Naturally, the finder's fee is applicable only to clients for which we have not worked previously.      This offer will remain in effect until further notice. YOUR TURN: Ask the "grammar coach" or subscribe      We invite you to submit your questions to the "grammar coach," and we welcome you to subscribe to this monthly newsletter—which we'll send to your e-mail address at no charge. We respond to all "grammar coach" questions personally, but delays may occur because we must place top priority on assignments from our clients. We appreciate your patience and your interest.      You also can change your e-mail subscription address. For an address change, please indicate your existing AND your new e-mail address. Thank you. OUR PRIVACY POLICY for e-mail newsletter subscribers:      We do not use any commercial e-mail lists or automated mass-mailing programs, and we do not allow access to the list by anyone else for any reason. Our subscriber list is maintained by hand, and it is not for sale. We are protective of confidentiality because many of our readers are also clients of ours. Any accompanying advertising is placed by Yahoo.com in exchange for our use of the e-mail server to distribute this newsletter.