My 2025 Christmas Card

 

I’ve been writing letters and sending cards for as long as I can remember—literally since the day I could hold a pencil. There was a time when every big department store had a proper stationery department, and little paper shops dotted the Main Street: places filled with beautiful writing paper, postcards, note cards, fountain pens, colored inks, and envelopes that felt like small treasures. Those shops are still everywhere in Europe, but here in the United States they’ve almost vanished over the past twenty years. I miss them terribly.

Every holiday season I feel the pull again. This year the urge was especially strong, so I made my own cards (as I always do), decorated the envelopes, and sent out about fifty of them. I create one “general” design for most friends and a special one for my fellow Sherlockians. I was so excited to mail the Sherlock Holmes cards that I forgot to photograph the card itself—typical!—but I did capture the envelope, which I’ll share below. The main card this year was inspired by a lovely blog photo I stumbled across. I thought it would make a perfect seasonal greeting, and be the perfect choice for the inclusion of a recipe.

For the past several years, sharing my cards here has become my way of sending a little extra Christmas cheer to all of you. So whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, the solstice, or just the joy of a new year, please consider this post my handwritten note to you:

Wishing you light in the darkness, warmth in the cold, and a 2026 filled with good post.

I use Tim Holtz rubber stamps every year for my envelopes. You can find the ones I used here, here, and here.

 

If you’d like to take a look at what I’ve done in the past, here are cards from 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024.

 

  As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.