Annual Christmas Card Results

Annual Christmas Card Results

Christmas 2012 delivered 71 cards to our house, not including family photos and letters. Our Unitarian friends—a nice lesbian couple in Minnesota—sent a message of comfort and joy introducing both their newly-adopted son and their new family surname. They image the Holy Family in my book.

Secular cards (37) nosed ahead of religiously-themed cards (34). The secular category traverses the globe, from a penguin wearing a Santa hat (printed in China) to two cards with a polar bear momma and cub (one an Oxfam card made in China from 50% recycled material and the other printed in the USA on 100% recycled paper and manufactured entirely with Green-e certified wind-generated electricity). Traditional holiday greetings come adorned with Christmas decor (6), snowscapes (5), Santa Claus (4), decorated trees (3), teddy bears (2), cats and mice (“Merry Christmouse”), and things that are red (robins, candy canes, British post boxes, and a big nose). Meanwhile this year’s unique secular cards indicate things to come: “Seasons Growlings” from a friend who works at Pixar who told us their card always features the animation-studios’ next film (so look out for monsters coming soon to a theater near you), and “Scottish Parliament Dreams” from a Member of the Scottish Parliament who is a member of the Scottish National Party which is working to make the dream of Scotland’s independence a reality.

Among the religious cards, the most popular continue to be nativity scenes (24) of which 4 depict all-white Marys and Josephs en route and 9 portray manger scenes. One manger scene is a pageant of children of different races (Joseph is brown-skinned and Mary is a white red-head holding a teddy bear). Another manger scene is comprised entirely of animals including a kitten hovering over a straw-covered baby Jesus (with no warning of toxoplasmosis despite the card being designed for Cancer Research UK). The shepherds (4) equal the magi (2) and angels (2), and of those keeping watch over their flocks, 2 groups are African (thanks to Christian Aid and Traidcraft whose cardstock comes from responsible sources managed by the Forest Stewardship Council) and one is, realistically, Middle Eastern.

Three religious scenes are from works of art: “The Virgin Adoring the Sleeping Christ Child” (circa 1490) by Sandro Botticelli (1444/5-1510), in the Scottish National Gallery; “Cherubs and Angels” by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905), courtesy of The Bridgeman Art Library in New York; and “Presentatión” by Jaime Dominguez Montes, a Mexican architect, artist, and director of Contemporary Religious Art which produces modern icons and portrayals of non-traditional saints such as Martin Luther King, Jr., and Harvey Milk.

16 cards shine with gold or silver and are mostly religious scenes or doves of peace. Of the dozen cards that have glitter on them one is a peace dove and the rest are secular—except for one card with a sparkling teddy bear posting a letter in a mailbox; it has been craftily transformed by the sender who crossed out the common greeting and handwrote, “Happy Birthday Lord Jesus.”

Messages of good will appear not just on the fronts or insides of cards. According to the small print on the back, 22 cards were purchased in support of charities: British Heart Foundation, Children’s Hospice Association Scotland, Church of Scotland Guild, Habitat for Humanity, Macmillan Cancer Support, Marie Curie Cancer Care, the National Trust for Scotland, St. Joseph’s Indian School in South Dakota, Save the Children, Woodland Trust, and World Cancer Research Fund, along with the other organizations mentioned.

One of the many peace cards we received shows a lighthouse based on artwork by Robert Fobear and is produced by the National Geographic Society; the back explains, “For more than three centuries, lighthouses in America have helped mariners safely navigate treacherous coastlines. Years ago, wintertime storms could isolate lighthouse keepers and their families for weeks at a time; now, almost every lighthouse in America is automated.”

A photo card of an ornament describes it as a “’Chrismon Star’ made by a woman in The Well Craft Group”; The Well is a Church of Scotland organization that provides information and advice for Asian women here in Glasgow.

And one card announces “A Gift Has Been Made in Your Honor!” The gift is one-half of a water buffalo—joined, I’m sure, with its other half—to help provide a sustainable source of food and income for a struggling family somewhere in the world, through Heifer International, a nonprofit humanitarian organization that works to end world hunger and protect the Earth.

 I am indeed honored.