Christmas Cards
One of the best parts of the Yuletide Holidays is the tradition of sending and receiving greeting cards. I’m always impressed with the creativity and variety of images, messages and formats that people choose. Some of the best are hand made with original drawings or paintings carefully placed on the front. Newsletters created on home computers complete with photos interspersed between paragraphs are fun and informative.
I have a friend who is a gifted poet and rhymes her sentences to include every family member, an awesome feat! Sometimes professional photos are inserted with notations written on the back containing name, age and date. A family snapshot produced as a post card is a clever and innovative way to keep everyone updated. With all the crafty scrap booking supplies available today I’m finding more and more hand assembled cards with beautiful ribbons, cutouts, patterns and designs.
People often include a written history of their activities during the past year, some accountings are humorous, others list family member accomplishments and awards, many tell of travel to places all over the world or details of gossip about visits with relatives. Occasionally a letter will inform of a serious illness or death, these are the sad messages.
Through the years my cards have progressed through most of these phases. When I was very young with a lot of leisure time, I handmade each card painting little original watercolors on the front. Everything was done by hand; the message inside, the sending address, and the return address. Then I learned how to mass produce my artwork and had my drawings printed on card stock. I remember how excited I became when we could order preprinted return address labels. The first ones had a glue on the back that had to be moistened, we would use a sponge to wet the labels, the stamps and the glue on the envelope flap.
Now my artwork is reproduced as cards in full color with bar codes and an artist biography on the back. The computer database sorts the christmas list and prints address labels or addresses on the envelopes themselves. And yet, even with all these conveniences sometimes I find it hard to set aside enough time to send cards. Somehow, though, I always manage. Thank you for keeping this tradition alive and for all the beautiful, newsy, creative cards sent to friends, family and acquaintances each year.
Merry Christmas to all, and God Bless you in the New Year!
Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Artist
