I started to make Christmas cards for my parents. As I grew older the circle widened, and the card making became a seasonal endeavor. The early ones were one-offs and I didn’t always keep examples of the later efforts. My Dad, Edmund died in 1995 and my Mum, Catharine in 2005 and I got back the cards I had given them over the years – and of course emotionally much more. Putting them out each Christmas is very special.
These examples were made in St Helens – my home town, London, Cambridge, Fort Worth, Berlin and Edinburgh. That covers a period of over two decades. There are gaps – possibly there were some years when, shock-horror, I simply bought them!
The early designs were invented and essentially decorative but as time went by they started to be derived from sketches I had made. I will admit the making is frequently accompanied by non-seasonal grumpiness but in the end this little tradition has brought me huge satisfaction.
