Such an exciting time in New Orleans: Christmas, New Year’s and the BCS! This year all of this snuck up on me; I was in the car driving to my parents’ for Thanksgiving dinner, and I heard myself singing “Jingle Bells.” I stopped and thought, “Wait, what am I doing?” Then I turned up the radio; it was Thanksgiving Day and “Jingle Bells” was playing. At first I was overwhelmed; I mean, I hadn’t even stuffed my face with turkey yet. Then I got really excited thinking about how much fun Christmas in New Orleans is. I began to reminisce about “Christmas in the Oaks,” the snow on Fulton Street and my favorite part, Christmas cards.
Ever since I was little I’ve loved looking at Christmas cards; I really think they reflect a personality. One of my favorite Christmas cards came from my cousins about eight years ago. The family traveled a lot, and both children attended different boarding schools. So my aunt, who’s very creative, decided to Photoshop them together. She took a different picture of each of them and assembled them together like a family portrait. The most hilarious part was there was no consistency to their attire. So, from far away it looked like a normal Christmas card of a family posing with their dog, but when you looked closer you saw that the youngest son was in a tuxedo, next to him his mother was in semi-cocktail attire, the eldest son was in a football jersey and the father was sitting on a porch with a book and his dog. It was classic!
The reason I’ve rambled on about Christmas cards is because I thought it might be fun to feature them in one of my columns down the road. Send me your Christmas card, from any year, and tell me the story behind it.
In your email to Shelby@MyNewOrleans.com, please include: the year the card was sent out, the names of the people (and pets) in the picture and their ages. Happy New Year, and rest up because Mardi Gras is right around the corner!
