christmas cards of yore

as we've been slowly packing up our few christmas decorations, i've been thinking of a way to save and display my favorites of the cards we've received. i think maybe next year we'll make a bulletin board (from foam board covered with pretty paper) especially for the purpose of displaying our favorite christmas-related images. this way they will last longer than the few weeks between when they're received and when it seems silly to still keep christmasy things hanging around.

with that in mind, i've been digging up the christmas cards we've made in years past, and with fond remembrance share them now with you!

this card was from two years ago. (we didn't make one last year while we were in new england.) the quote is from tennyson's poem of the same name, about ringing out the old and the negative, and ringing in the new and the positive. you can read the whole poem here. here's a taste:

Ring out old shapes of foul disease,
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

i loved the ideas in the poem and the sound of "wild bells." as usual, i supplied the idea and aaron did the work to make it happen. he really likes carving fancy lettering.

(and actually we never finished mailing all these cards--i think i stopped about halfway through the alphabet, too exhausted to finish the project. so sad! but please, if you never received one and would like one, let me know. we have lots left.)

this card was from 2005, and remains my very favorite. i like the combination of lettering and a simple image. the font is grasshopper, in the arts and craft style, and the floral decoration is meant to go with that style.

the quote is from the magnificat, mary's song from the gospel of luke. it is an incredibly beautiful song of acceptance and joy, and a great prophesy for what jesus will bring to the world. i appreciate the different meanings the above text can hold: that jesus literally fed the hungry with food, but also that he has given a hungry world many reasons to be full of joy. (and now as we begin a new political season in our country, i also appreciate the line, "he has cast down the mighty from their thrones and lifted up the lowly." may it be a season of things turning topsy-turvy!)

this was our very first christmas card as a couple. it doesn't have any hidden meanings--just a simple scene of light and warmth inside a household on a snowy night. the dutch word gezellig might be a good title for this one.

from wikipedia: Its closest equivalent is the word "coziness"; however, rather than merely describing a place that is compact, well-heated and nicely furnished (a cozy room, a cozy flat), Gemütlichkeit connotes the notion of belonging, social acceptance, cheerfulness, the absence of anything hectic and the opportunity to spend quality time.

what better could we wish for than a gezellig new year?