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| The Nativity set from Italy which has been in my family since 1958. |
1985 is the year I first began sending out Christmas cards, and I have always taken a bit of pride in the cards I've sent. Sometimes they've been sacred & other times secular. I didn't become a [Maverick] Christian until April 6, 1994, but even after that, I sometimes sent secular cards. It all depended upon which cards I found & liked best, or what sort of idea I came up with in creating my own cards.
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The first card I sent depicted a little boy getting the puppy he wished for. (Let's be honest, a pony isn't very practical for a city-dwelling boy. And BB guns are too dangerous "You'll shoot your eye out!")
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Below are some (not all, but some) of my very favorite Christmas cards that I've sent out over the decades:
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| 1985 Christmas card. Click on the pictures to see 'em bigger 'n' better! |
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| Beautiful 1989 card |
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| Me in 1990 at Santa's North Pole (aka Skyforest, Calif., near Lake Arrowhead). |
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| My 1993 card, four months before my baptism by Jesus. |
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| 1996 -- One of my very, very favorites! |
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| 1998 -- Edward Hopper is my favorite artist, and this spoof of his famous painting 'Nighthawks' was irresistible to me! |
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| My 2010 card which reminds me of a certain Christmas movie I watch every December. |
This next one from 2016 is my #1 choice. It begins with my all-time favorite family photo (taken in '64) on the front of the card. My sister, Bonehead, was just an infant and my brother, Nappy, was cryin' like a baby. I felt genuinely inspired when I came up with the sentiment inside the card:
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Anyone who knows me knows that I have a twisted appreciation for black comedy. Below are three cards that friends sent to me over the years, and which I saved and display every year because they still put a smile on my face:
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| This 1984 card was sent to me by Kelly Anderson, one of the two best friends I've ever had, and the most overall talented person I've known. Inside the card, Kelly wrote: "License plate light was out. You know the gig!" It broke my heart when Kelly committed suicide two years later. |
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| This 1988 one-of-a-kind hand-drawn card was from my buddy Lonnie Millsap III, who later went on to become a professional cartoonist, having his cartoons published in The New Yorker & Playboy magazines. |
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| This hilarious card was sent to me in 2018 by my friend Sheboyganboy Six (aka Sixgun McItchyfinger, The Amazing Sixwell, and Sir Sixalot). This has to be the funniest Christmas card I've ever seen! |
Well, that's it for this blog for now. I wish you all a very
"MERWWY CHWITHMUTH!"
.WP&Z!,
~ Stephen T. McCarthy
Well, Rupert, Merry Christmas!
ReplyDeleteI think your idea of a Christmas card display is a fun one. I don't do it but I do save MOST cards. Often people send photo cards and so I have a record of their face (if that is what they sent a picture of!) through the years.
I must admit to a certain pride in making the cut of your three retained Xmas cards! I WISH I had thought of that reindeer cartoon meself... but, at least I snagged it when I saw it. It is the funniest dadgum Xmas card I ever saw!
All the best to you, Nappy, and Bonehead in 2026! We're going to need all the luck we can get!
Sheboyganboy
~~>>... It is the funniest dadgum Xmas card I ever saw!
DeleteSIR SIXY, I respectfully axe you to watch yer language on this blog. This is a family-oriented blog and I don't cotton to the way you use curse words like "dadgum". Sorry, but if I let that go unrepremanded, sure 'n' begorrah you'll be using profanity like "jive turkey" before I know it!
My friend, you dun goot with that card you sent me, and I will continue displaying it in my house every December until... the day I have to leave my house and hide in McCarthy's Cave, because I won't take the "mark" of el diablo.
You've been a goot friend, despite your taste in so-called "music". (Sorry, Brother, but el diablo made me say that. ;^)
~ D-FensDogG