I’m sitting here at my computer in my kitchen with a cup of coffee feeding 7 x 10 scored card stock paper through my printer. I’m making my own Christmas cards this year. I’ve got to admit that I have a problem with Christmas, not the holiday itself as much as the commercial frenzy we’ve made of it. The Black Friday hysteria. The expectation that we need to spend lots of money on the perfect gifts. The stores decorated since Halloween. I do what I can to ignore all that. I tune out commercial TV and radio and all the ads. Pandora internet radio and streaming shows on Netflix are great commercial free alternatives. I shop online and avoid the shopping mall circus, but I do that year round anyway. Sorry, I’m getting off topic.
Sending (and receiving) cards is one of the best things about Christmas. Who doesn’t love getting a card? They’re sweet “I’m thinking about you” messages. They bring some peace into the season. They make a great holiday display too, arrayed on a table or taped onto a banister.
Last December I went on a field trip with my camera club to Antietam National Battlefield to shoot the annual luminary lighting. Volunteers place 26,000 luminaries on the battlefield, one for each fallen or wounded soldier in the bloodiest single battle of the Civil War. It’s beautiful and solemn. I’m using one of my photos from that trip on the front of my Christmas card. Not this one. I want to surprise those of you on my card list, but here’s a view of the event.
Luminary lighting at Antietam National Battlefield, Dec. 4, 2010
I used a program called Pages on my Mac to design my card. It’s not exactly a traditional card. It’s dark, like winter, and more than hints at the sacrifices made to keep our country together. But it also has light shining into the darkness, and that’s really what Christmas is about. Under the photo, I put “Wishing you peace and joy” in a font called Zapfino. It took a bit of time and patience to get my printer to handle the card properly, but I think I’m pleased with the result. It is pretty amazing that I can do this right here in my kitchen!
Wishing you peace and joy,
Linda
Answering the creative impulse 
I so agree with the frustration of the materialism of the Christmas season. Actually, Christmas decorations show up BEFORE Halloween in way too many stores. One of my frustrations is my attemp at decorating for Thanksgiving. As a large family dinner happens at my house, I always plan on finding some cute turkey day things in the stores after Halloween. But on, no. No Thanksgiving to be found. Congratulations on making your own cards. Used to do that when I was a teenager. Happy Thanksgiving.
Thanks, Cheryl! I’m going to have fun blogging! Hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving too!
wow – what a stunning photo. that’s a labour of love.
Thank you, Marina! I checked out your blog and love your travel photos!
Thank you! I am going to receive my DSLR any day now so the Sony Point n Shoot will be for on-the-go pics only. Still awed by the image of the candles. Truly remarkable and there are some wonderful people out there to have participated in this.
Home made cards are fabulous. And that shot of Antietam is gorgeous. Wow. Memories of my childhood coming back to me. 🙂
Thank you, Katie! The DC metro area has such an abundance of photo opportunities, even in the cold and dark of winter. I see you’re in a warmer area now, also with great photo ops. Enjoy the memories! Thanks for dropping by!
I LOVE that photo, and totally agree with you about what the holidays have become. I’m getting grumpy, rather than making them “my own”.
Hi Dorie! Thanks for checking out my blog! Christmas is the most challenging holiday, I think. It sure can make me grumpy too. But I do love Thanksgiving. Hope you have a great one!
Hi Aunt Linda! That photo looks really great! Also the home-made Christmas cards is a really neat idea. Maybe I’ll try something like that this year!