Deiree A. Neville
- Oct 11, 2018
- 2 min read

Our Christmas Card Story

In my family, we have been sending out Christmas cards for 27 years. I don't think we've missed a year yet. It started out with store-bought cards. And then one year, back in the 90s, when newsletters were a thing, we decided to join in all the fun!

We started with adding a one-page newsletter to our regular greeting card each year. Then, we upgraded to a photo of us on the front of the card and included the newsletter in the envelope.

Forward to 2006, when I was still a flight attendant. The lot of us (flight attendants) pooled our talents together and produced the 2007 Flight Attendant Calendar. We were doing this to raise funds for the Princess Margaret's Cancer research foundation. This calendar idea had all started in 2004 in memory of one of us who had lost her battle with breast cancer. The whole thing was inspired by the movie Calendar Girls.

I was lucky and honored to be asked to photograph the 3rd and 4th calendars.

We had flight attendants who were makeup artists, stylist, hair stylists, and even models. Others were photographers. We did all those different shoots just like you would imagine a magazine photo shoot would happen. It was fun and exciting. And in the end, we raised over $45,000 for the foundation!

Shooting the first calendar inspired me to photograph my family in a fashion style at the studio. Then I thought, why not combine the photo and the newsletter? And thus was born our fist News-greeting card. I made it look like a magazine. On the inside, i wrote quick little paragraphs telling what everyone was up to. We included some photos of events that had happened during the year and we showed some behind the scenes of our photo shoot. It was very well received and our family and friends won't let us quit!!

I am so happy that we have all those now! I keep a copy each year in a binder. It is a great way to document our lives and have all those memories to look back on.

Some of my favourite photos and destinations

That very first portrait we took for those cards was made into a large print and framed. It is now hanging at the top of our staircase.

We have printed and framed others as well. They are a joy to look at every time I walk by them:)

The point of me telling you all this, is that it is not easy to accomplish, getting your family to co-operate for this very dreaded event every year. I have to nag and nag to get everyone on board for the family photo shoot. I generally come up with the location and a colour scheme to observe.

And would you believe we haven't done our photo this year yet.

I must leave you now and go nag my family to go out and get that shot!

Thanks for reading and see you next time!