As you may already know, I send out holiday cards every year. But you might not know some of the history involved with these cards. It began back in 1979, when I was living in Oakland, California.  That’s a much younger me in the picture above and it was the first holiday card I ever sent. I don’t recall what possessed me to do it. I’d never sent out cards before. What I do remember is walking past a PhotoMat (remember it’s 1979) that was advertising a service turning photos into holiday cards. Of course, I didn’t want to use any old photo. I wanted to do something a little different. I also remember thinking that if I did something “ a little different” every year, in about five years, people would really look forward to these cards. Now all these years, it turns out that was an understatement.

Every year I hear from people about how much they enjoy getting the card. It’s not uncommon to walk into a friend’s house (back when you could walk into a friend’s house) and find the card on the refrigerator. In June.  And now when the card is posted on social media (which definitely did not exist in 1979), the response is amazing. It’s way beyond what I imagined all those years ago.

As you might imagine, over forty-one years there have been some changes. I got married and had two kids (I often tell people we only had kids because we needed more material for the card) and as noted in the 2001 card below, moved across the country.

In that time, the list has grown from 20 cards in 1979 to 323 cards this year. Every year a few people fall off the list for various reasons, usually a returned card with no forwarding address. Although, I do make the effort to track people down.  In most years a few people get added too. But this year we’ve been sheltering, so there wasn't a lot of adding. 

The hardest thing every year is the idea. At times I’ve been simultaneously digesting Thanksgiving dinner and also panicking about the lack of an idea. Except in 2002, when I had this idea in July.

Although it’s never this easy,  I did sit down one year and make a conscious decision to think up the card right then and there.  It somehow worked and we ended up with this one.

Of course the idea is only half the battle. The execution is the other half. When the kids were younger, just getting them to sit for whatever hare-brained idea I’d come up with was often a challenge in itself. Even now, as adults, I sometimes have to do a bit of nagging to get the pictures done. Once I have all the pictures needed, I get to work in Photoshop. Prototypes are sent to the family for feedback. Eventually I print a test, tinker, print another, tinker some more, and so on until I’m happy. Sometimes that’s quite a few tests. Even before computers, where “Cut and Paste” commands are standard, the process was the same. I still printed endless tests but there was literally cutting and pasting to create the card like in the examples below.

The advent of computers changed more than how the card is created. These days, rather than addressing the cards by hand,  I manage a database and use mailing labels. Dependence on the computer did have a drawback. 1994 would have been the first card created with photoshop but a series of computer problems combined with a lack of time resulted in no card at all that year. It remains the only black mark on the record.

Over the years there’ve been some duds (1998 & 1999).

And some big hits (2005, 2010, & 2015). 2005 was actually Jay’s idea. Whenever I’m asked, I usually say 2015 is my favorite.

And there is always a story. In 2012, I printed the card at Target. I asked the clerk what she thought about the card. She said she liked it but wanted to know, “who is that guy?”, as she pointed at the man who today is called President-elect Biden.

And in 2018, Dillon worried that people might not know who James Corden was, a worry that turned out to be needless.

I’ve also been asked how long I plan to keep doing it (the boys ask this a lot). I don’t have an answer for that. People seem to still like getting them and I still like doing it, so who knows?  Meanwhile, it’s never too early to start thinking about next year. If anyone has any ideas, let me know.

You can see the entire collection here: http://www.jeffvibes.com/holiday-cards