The holidays are a perfect time to share photographs. Some of us take photos for the sheer joy of having a new picture in our hands, the discovery of something beautiful which we want to capture and document on camera, something of great magnitude. Or we’re fascinated by that one tooth just showing up in our baby’s mouth when she grins. If you haven’t already decided what you’ll send out this year, think about photo Christmas cards. If you do it just right, it can be a gift as well as a card.
There is no better time to share our photos than during the holidays. We may not be able to give a present to someone—financial considerations, among other reasons, often preclude that—but we rarely hesitate to let those important people know we’re thinking about them during the holidays, and just about the best way to do that is to send them a personalized photo Christmas card.
It’s important to brand your card as coming from only you. A personalized photo card will do that, if you put a bit of thought into it. Some of us are naturally creative and love nothing more than developing our own distinctive greeting for those who mean a lot to us. Photos add such a deeply connecting touch. A photo Christmas card is often kept long after one without that personal brand.
What is about a photograph that pulls us in and makes us feel so deeply attuned with the person who shared it with us?
Photos have forever held a binding mystique. Many people believe there’s a spiritual connection in an image that came to be from combining light, chemicals, humanity and technology. When the giving season comes around on the calendar every year and breathes life into the image, only then do those sensibilities turn a photograph into a shared personal reality.
Which is probably why photo cards carry so much emotion, why they mean so much to us at all times, but especially as a Christmas card. We’re allowing a look into our soul when we choose a photograph to accompany our Christmas cards. This is what happens when our photograph—family, self, husband and wife, pets—goes from our hands into a holiday greeting, then into the hands of someone with whom we want to share our life.
How many times have you looked at a photo of a long-gone person and wondered about how they lived? Have you ever seen photos of ancestors, maybe in a shoebox in your grandmother’s closet, and fantasized about what sort of traits you may share? How do those images bring such ideas almost instantaneously to mind? Why is it that we think such things when we look at a photo? There is a spirit inherent in every photograph, as much as there is in each of us long after a picture is taken, no matter the generation. It continues on, and it is that spirit that drives us to connect with others during our shared winter holiday season. We have a need to personally give of ourselves in some way that will be remembered.
What photos are good to use on our holiday greeting cards?
When we consider personalized photo Christmas cards, we usually think of a formal shot of the family taken specifically for that card. While this is always a good choice, maybe you might think about mixing it up this time.
Use a photo of the family doing something you love to do together. Don’t be stuck on the idea of a studio shot. If that’s what means most to you, by all means go with it, but if you know someone who’s good with a camera, ask them to go out “into the field” with you, and do a photo shoot. It’ll be fun for all and part of the overall experience. Go outside—and, of course, don’t forget the dog—and get photos taken while playing a contact sport, or sitting at the dining room table together (this one would likely be without the dog—probably), or if you live near the beach, standing at the edge of the water . . . with all of you wearing Santa beards. Be creative and, I might add, don’t be afraid to get silly. The holidays are for creating memories of times that can never be forgotten. Some of those best memories are of laughter.
Another possibility is to use a photo of something important to you, something which people will immediately identify as part of your life. Do you have an oh-so-special 1957 Chevy, a car that everyone who knows you can’t see you being without? Imagine how recognizable that would be to family and friends—a well-done photo of that car on the front of your card, you standing next to it, leaning against the hood, maybe with a “Merry Christmas!” sign hanging skewered from the rear-view mirror. On the inside would be your own personal message, something like, “Just me, driving by to give you my retro love on this Christmas Day.”
Everyone who gets a card from you wants to be “wow-ed” by it. All of us are looking to be remembered, and that’s the major reason we enjoy personalized photo Christmas cards. But it’s a close second to be able to laugh out loud, or to wipe away a tear of love and nostalgia after we open the envelope of a Christmas card sent to us from you. We love you, remember, and we love you because you’re so very special to us . . . and unique. Make it clear without any doubt that your cards are a reflection of your personality, and a direct result of your care and concern for those who are important to you.
I can think of no better way to marry the spirit of the season with the joy of sending a personal message of love, fun, and hope, than to send photo Christmas cards this upcoming season. Share of yourself with others.
Literally.