The ghosts of Christmas past

A selection of older Christmas cards dusted down and retrieved from the archive. I only realised a few days ago that I’ve been doing these cards for well over twenty years. Frightening. They started with a card featuring our first Jack Russell Terrier, called Pike, and each year they developed and evolved from there. When a terrier died there was no shadow, no paw prints or pawprints and no terrier in the snow indicating the ghostly presence. The dogs featured on the cards had conversations about the weather and their luck in not being taken fishing by him, being warm and life in general. Looking at the old images it’s a little bit like watching your life pass before your eyes, our children and some recipients have kept the full set stretching back all those years and some have them all framed and hung in hallways and on stairs and landings. Certain elements are almost always present, the coloured floats, the terriers that we had at the time, only the style of cutting and handling of the medium has really changed. The cards featured above are: 1. Pike. Fishing 2. A Ruffe, no Grayling and bored Pike. 3. A pool, a Pike and then a pint. 4. Frost, fog and speed. 5. Walking with the fishes. 6. Nice and warm in here Minnow. 7. Cod and ships. Merry Christmas everyone.