Every year around December 1st I start to get worried that Jake and I will never get our holiday cards finished in time to mail. (At that point we have no idea what the card will be, or any theme either) Then we procrastinate, putting off the creating until we realize we really won’t make it, but then, somehow, we do.

This year we used the idea of Boxing Day, December 26th as a celebratory theme. I had these old pugilist poses collected and always thought they would make a funny “cartoon”. Adding the wrapped box to the mix gave an authentic meaning.

Being Irish I struggled with only celebrating a really English holiday, especially because my roots are in Belfast, an area where there is still conflict. So I thought I would add the wren, as the reference to Ireland’s St. Stephen’s Day their traditional holiday on December 26th.

In my mind the boxers represented “the troubles” of Northern Ireland, unionists and nationalists duking it out, but then stopping to open a gift of acceptance.

I wanted music to be a part of the video, so I went to archive.org and searched for boxing music. What I found was a great “Popeye the Sailor” cartoon that I separated the song from. It was just a fun addition to the video to have Popeye singing about the art of self defense.

Originally we were going to print the prize fighter on water color paper… I wanted an admission ticket to accompany the image and could not think how it would be attached and did not want to just drop it into an envelope. Then we went to a local paper store and decided to by pre-made, paneled, blank card stock with matching envelopes. This allowed us to gocco print the fronts and cut slits on the inside to attach the ticket. My favorite part of the whole process was the ticket. To make it look real I needed some soft paper and thought of good old-fashioned construction paper (we now have a whole bundle of different colors, more creative ideas are brewing). I designed the sheet with 18 up and cut the tops and bottom with a straight edge, but to get the perforated edges I bought this wonderful embossing wheel (like a pizza roller) to make the cuts between the tickets, then hole punched out the edges.

Some people said they did not go to the website because they thought the event was for only one day. I am sorry that they did not, and sad that it was not clear on my part, but it is all still there, and there is a coloring contest, along with “prizes”. Adding one more meaning to the prize element.

If you are so inclined please visit, the contest is open until January 12th.