Christmas
in New England:
Illustrations, Stories and Pictures of
Christmas Traditions
and the Winter Season
Original Pen & Ink Illustrated Christmas Cards
New England Holiday Traditions
Christmas in New England
Christmas at Quincy
Market &
Faneuil Hall
Marketplace, Boston
Christmas in Boston's North End
Fairhaven Memorial Church at Christmastime
La Posadas, A Mexican Christmas
Christmas Past
Christmas 2007 Christmas 2006 Christmas 2005 Christmas 2004
Christmas 2003 Christmas 2001 Christmas 2000 Christmas 1999-1995
The Christmas Season has always been special for me. Starting with Thanksgiving, the gathering of the family and reflections on the past. The holiday season builds, with concerts, tree lightings and public ceremonies, along with church activities, and visits with family and friends. It is a joyous time, a time set apart from the normal workday. I have celebrated the season in a variety of ways, with a few traditions developing along the way.
One tradition started when I was back in High School, stringing popcorn for the Christmas Tree by myself. Friends stopped by, and it became a tree trimming party. That celebration has continued for the last thirty six years, give or take a few missed celebrations. Each year friends come by, and string popcorn with me, so that the plain tree becomes a thing of beauty through a common celebration.
Another tradition is this website. Back before there was web software, I hand coded my first Christmas web page in raw html. That was in 1995. Online accounts barely existed. I had a special account through the state of New Hampshire (where I lived at the time) and so was able to access the internet. This was a very big deal! There were very few people on the web, and I had to go to a graphic house to have my slides converted to jpegs. I was fortunate to know somebody who had a server, and gave me the space to post my web pages. A few years later the server disappeared off the internet. I was fortunate enough to reconstruct some of the files, which I now have posted once again.
The tradition that most people associate with me are my illustrated pen and ink Christmas Cards. I created my first limited edition Christmas Card back in the 70's, while I was in college. It took me many years to get back to it, but in 1988 I drew my first pen and ink Christmas Card. I printed up a few hundred, and sent them to friends. Since then this has grown into a wonderful tradition. Hundreds of people each year look forward to receiving this year's card, and in my small way the spirit of Christmas is passed on each year!
Best wishes
Dana Morris