Life in Christmas Cards

Artwork & Illustration, Christmas, Musings, Scribbles, Storytelling 1 Minute

I started designing personal Christmas cards the year I moved to NYC, 1994. Back then, I’d take a floppy to Kinko’s to use their color printer, and then I’d cut each out and glue it into one of those photo-frame cards. Ugly. These days the process is much more polished and professional but the brain-wracking introspection and triple-guessing are the same.

Each was intended to convey my place and purpose that year, to tell a story with a single image (or strip). Looking back, the series feels cohesive to me: it’s a jagged narrative of highs and lows, lonely days and happy memories, vanity and bravado–and, I hope, imperfection and vulnerability.

I’ll admit, 2022’s stands out for its simplicity and authenticity, at least to me and my wife. That should tell you all you need to know: this has been a narcissistic pursuit all along, but we hope the cards bring a little holiday happiness to friends and family.

There are a few missing herein, mostly because some years/year’s were better than others. The captions are small but concise. Enjoy.

1994: The first and most braggadocius
1997: Humbled by NYC
1998: Humbler
1999: Last year in NYC
2000: Blinded by the lights
2002: First year in LA. Need to get a little work done
2003: Farce
2004: One year with Binger. Happy sad
2006: A new start, with Mary
2007: A fun year; meet Ruckus & Rampage
2008: The Great Recession hit hard
2012: Stats was a thing, and I was out of other ideas
2014: Dogs
2015: An incredibly momentous year: Lots of loss in the family; we got married
2016: Blissful in blue
2017: How the sausage gets made
2018: Handmade with silkscreen, and colored pencils accompanied each card
2020: A tough year all around. Lost Mom, lost Rampage, the sky turned orange, oh, and there was a pandemic
2021: We doubled down on the craziness of 2020 by leaving Cali, moving to Michigan and then Nashville. More loss
2022: Feels like a relief, like we’ve arrived, like we’re out of the crazy. We’ll see!
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One thought on “Life in Christmas Cards”

  1. Doug. This is absolutely amazing; I confess to tearing up up a number of times. So thoughtful, so smart, so sophisticatedly funny. Would have been better with bacon, tho. Merry Christmas to you and Mary! Best, Jimmy V

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