It’s that time of year again — time to come up with a new card to send to my friends and relatives for the holidays. I decided to make my own cards in 1999 because I had received a picture from the mid-1950s of the farm on which I grew up. It was a winter scene and I thought that relatives might enjoy seeing it. I’ve been making my cards ever since.
The problem with this task is that I’m not a very good judge of what kind of photo would go well on such a card. I grew up with snowy winters so, naturally, I always think that my cards should have a snow scene on the front. As a result, I always pick what I think is an appropriate winter scene. This is probably due to the influence of Clement C. Moore’s ubiquitous poem, “A Visit from St. Nicholas.” After all, I doubt they get much snow in Bethlehem, Mecca, or any of the other centers of the great religions.
The photos below are some of those that I’ve used in the past ten years. The farm scene was taken by an unknown relative; the other photographs are mine. Now if I could only decide what photograph to use on this year’s card. At least I’ve got it narrowed down to a snowy winter scene.