Christmas card 2008

our Christmas card, originally uploaded by medusahead.

My parents know a lot of people, particularly those with a fondness for sending Christmas cards, newsletters, and mailers by the bushel. So much so that an official Basket was purchased to accomodate the yearly haul, and over the years I've enjoyed - and let's be honest - sometimes giggled over the images of rigidly posed kids I'll never meet, families in matching outfits, pretty color schemes, maudlin family newsletters and dogs in sweaters.

But one card always stood out. One of my dad's fraternity brothers from college has consistently upped the ante, forsaking traditional poses to demonstrate his family's creative flair. The first year I took notice was the year of accordion foldout, each page showcasing his family on the tennis court demonstrating a strong backswing or jaunty serve. I didn't know if it was horribly classist or supposed to be serious, but I had never before seen such an inventive spin on the family Christmas card.

In the years hence nothing has really touched the Tenenbaum-esque genius of that first card. There was the very controversial family in the hot tub, the Let's All Pile Into the Vintage Woody with Surfboards, this years flat out weird and boring Let's don painters' suits and splash a giant tree and each other with day glo pinks and oranges. Regardless of their dip in inspiration, all I knew is that when I ended up with a husband and a kid and an excuse to send out actual holiday cards, there was no way I could settle for a run of the mill pose.

My mother informed the sender of the card that I was personally challenging him to card competition, and his response was that his next door neighbor always takes the photos for him. A guy that shoots for Vanity Fair.

So. It's nothing you'll see in some pish posh society rag, but here is the Sweazy's second family Christmas card, spreading Christmas cheer and some healthy, vicious competition.