Lighthouse

We don't do a lot to celebrate Christmas. Over the years we've seen the whole idea of Christmas degenerate into a profit driven event, where the shops and manufacturers try to get the public to spend far more than they can reasonably afford. Christmas has become 'How much more was spent this year over last year'.

We've always worked over Christmas until recently, even on the day itself, and have been happy to do so. We ran a Pub, so it really was a 365 day job in our case. What we did like to do is to keep in touch with the people that meant the most to us by sending good quality Christmas cards.

I know it's still October but all the shops and stores have now got there stocks in for the forth coming festive season. So where have all the decent Christmas cards gone?

A tree, with a bit of glitter (hate the stuff) and the word, Happy Xmas or Seasons Greetings if you're lucky. A dismal painting of a nativity scene by some obscure Dutch artist. A pudding with a sprig of holly, penguins, polar bears even Disney characters, with 'Left Blank for your Message'. Now, I don't want a Shakespeare sonnet but I do want a little more than Happy Xmas.

I spent most of an afternoon, going from shop to shop looking for something different, hoping something would jump out at me, but to no avail. Luckily I still have a few cards from last year, some that arrived from a Charity source too late to send, so these will have to do unless a miracle happens in the next few week. I'll hit the Garden Centres next, they sell decorations so they must sell cards. I hear the 'in' colour this year is black. Black trees, black garlands, very festive, just like the cards.

Every year I say I'm going to design my own cards. It's a bit late now but next year........... well, it's definitely on the cards!