Christmas customs come and go over generations, but one tradition that may, may be in its last days is that of going to the mailbox to find a Christmas card.

Research shows around 60% of Americans report getting fewer and fewer cards each year, and sales of the cards have seen a steady decline.

But for one small Kentucky town, their post office becomes a destination for those across the United States seeking something special for their Christmas cards.

And it's all in the name, Bethlehem.

[bells chiming] Bethlehem, Kentucky is a small town in Henry County, around an hour east of Louisville.

It's literally a no-stop light town.

There isn't even a stop sign on the main road.

The post office is in a tiny building that used to be the home of the grandmother of the current Bethlehem postmaster, Melinda Spear.

Now, Melinda is the third generation of her family to hold the position.

Her grandmother, Anna Laura Peyton, is in the center of this photo at the old post office counter there in Bethlehem.

Around 80 years ago, Peyton had an idea to do something special for the Christmas cards mailed in her community.

My grandmother, when she was here, asked if she could have a stamp designed for the post office, and they granted her that wish.

So, she had the stamp designed and it is the three wise men following the Star of David, and it says, “Christmas greetings from Bethlehem since 1947.” This is the original stamp Melinda's grandmother had created.

She estimates it was used on more than a million pieces of mail.

Now, back in those days, some 60,000 or so cards were brought to the Bethlehem post office each year for the stamp.

And while those numbers have dwindled, Melinda says Christmas in Bethlehem is like her Super Bowl.

My season starts on the Black Friday after Thanksgiving.

That's when I will start checking the mailbox that you see out in front.

I will start checking it to see if anybody is dropping cards in there, because we wanna make sure all the cards that come through here get stamped.

The first year I was here, we did around 15,000, and it's gone down a little bit each year.

Last year, we did, it was either 11,000 or 12,000.

Why do you think it's going down?

Part of it is because stamps are increasing, but the other part is technology.

I mean, we came into the computer age back in the ‘80s, and it has really taken over and it's taking a hit.

I mean, it's not just the post office, you know, where cards and things, because everything can be emailed or an e-card or anything like that.

Robert Carini is a sociologist at the University of Louisville.

He says the outlook for Christmas cards may not be as bad as anticipated.

His research shows greeting cards are seeing somewhat of a resurgence, particularly among younger folks.

There has been this trend toward younger generations being interested in some older things that we might think of as kind of old-timey or out of date.

With technology, for example, film cameras or digital cameras have become very popular.

Vinyl records are back in vogue.

Even things like home canning has become popular among younger people over the last decade or so.

So, there is perhaps a yearning for things that are predictable and comforting from the past, particularly when the world is changing very rapidly.

We have all kinds of technological things going on right now that might be a little bit scary.

Perhaps they're full of promise, but, you know, we don't really know where it's going.

Even with the decline seen in Bethlehem, Melinda hopes Christmas cards are a tradition that never goes away.

This is where someone has taken the time, has thought about, “Hey, I wanna send this card to this person.” They have given their time in order to sit down, write a card and fill it out.

And then, they bring it to me, and I'm taking the time to cancel it and make sure you get it there.

It's a dying tradition, unfortunately.

But when you get that Christmas card, and I've gotten two or three this year, it just gives you a little bit of joy when you open them up because somebody is saying, “Hey, I was thinking about you, and Merry Christmas.” Melinda is honest about what the future may hold for her tiny post office.

She readily admits her December traffic and stamp sales keeps the post office alive through the slow times of the rest of the year as the population of Bethlehem has declined.

But moments like what happened a few days before we arrived, when a customer who had driven all the way from Georgia with her Christmas cards came through the door, help her stay optimistic for the future of the Bethlehem post office.

What the future will hold, that's gonna depend on how things go in general.

I mean, hopefully, we will be here for years to come, but everything has its time.

I am really glad that I'm able to carry on the tradition and be here, still filling my grandmother's shoes.

So, yeah, happy.

[laughs] Very happy.

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