Mom’s Christmas Cards

My mom was always a crafts person, especially sewing, and always seemed to be making something, whether it was practical or decorative, and she loved decorating the house — she ultimately had about 12 different decorating sets in boxes, and would rotate them through the house as different holidays came up.

After she retired, she decided to take up painting, and became quite good at it until her failing health and eyesight stole it away from her. One thing she did every year for over a decade was design and paint special christmas cards to send out to friends, and this wasn’t a thing where she created a design and then had it printed, she hand-painted 30-40 of these every year. When she passed away, I made sure to grab a copy of each card, scan it in, and store a set of originals away for safe keeping.

As we move into the holiday season, I thought I would share them with you, as we all start getting into the season spirit. This started somewhere in the late 1980’s and covered the 1990’s. Every time I look at them it encourages me to try to do something similar — which is one of the things I’m mulling over as I set up the lathe and woodshop; and at the same time, it reminds me how much I miss her and dad and Susan as well.

With the tree about to go up in the house and the decorations coming out of boxes over the next week, I thought I’d pass these on and wish all of you the beginning of what I hope will be a good holiday and end of the year.