Since 2018, we
have made it a practice to create our Christmas cards using an image from that
year’s travels, with one exception that I’ll say more about below. Here are the
greetings from 2018 through 2024.
2018
Our big trip in
2018 was to Italy, where we spent several hours at the Galleria degli Uffizi in
Florence. One of the highlights was the “Adoration of the Magi,” an unfinished
work by Leonardo da Vinci. The image of the unfinished painting, which is shown
at the top of this blog post, adorned our Christmas cards that year. The verse
was Matthew 2:11, which says: “And going into the house they saw the child with
Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their
treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.” 1
2019
In 2019 we took a Baltic cruise that included Finland. While there, we visited Helsinki Cathedral, which had four external reliefs portraying different stages in Jesus’ life. One shows the shepherds worshiping the new-born Christ, so we used that for our Christmas card. The scripture was Luke 2:15-16, telling how the shepherds hurried to the manger and found Jesus there.
2020
We took a cruise up the Amazon River in 2020, just before COVID-19 closed everything down. In fact, we returned from our cruise to discover that there would be no more cruises that year.
One of the stops
we made on our way to the Amazon was at Ile Royale in French Guiana, which had
served as a prison for many years. It had long since been abandoned (except by
tourists), and the chapel was in bad repair. The nativity scene on the chapel
wall was still recognizable, however, so we used it for our Christmas card. The
verses were Galatians 4:4-5, which we had also used in 2014.
2021
COVID-19 messed up our travel plans for 2021. We did manage to get in a trip to South Africa and Zimbabwe, but we didn’t see anything there that worked for a Christmas card. So that is the one year since 2018 that we had to go back into our files to find a picture to use. The one we chose is one of my favorites, however. “Adoration of the Child” is by Gerard van Honthorst (circa 1620), and we saw it exhibited at the Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence, Italy in 2018. The scripture that year was John 1:9&14, which say, respectively, “The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world,” and “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
2022
In 2022 we took two international trips, but the Christmas card photo came from the one to Panama. It shows a stained-glass window in the Panama City Cathedral, and the verse inside the card was Luke 2:40, “And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.”
2023
By 2023, travel restrictions had eased or been eliminated, and we took a twice-postponed trip to Australia and New Zeeland. The trip to Ireland that produced that year’s Christmas card photo had only been postponed once, however. The painting is displayed at Kilkenny Castle in Kilkenny, Republic of Ireland, and was labeled as “Madonna and Child after Carlo Dolci.” The scripture that year was Isaiah 9:6 and was a repeat of the verse from 2016: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
2024
Last year we were in Budapest, Hungary again, this time to take a cruise in the other direction, through Eastern Europe to Bucharest. The flight to Egypt is depicted in a stained-glass window at Matthias Church in Budapest. The image is different, but both the theme and the verses (Matthew 2:14-15) are repeats from 2017.
2025
I’ll throw in this year’s card for good measure. The 18th Century sculpture of the Holy Family is on display at the São Francisco Church Annex in Porto, Portugal, and the scripture is Luke 2:40 (a repeat from 2022).
Tune in for
something different next week.
__________
1
All
scriptures are quoted from the English Standard Version of the Bible.
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