The second Christmas card on my list was made while on an exchange year in Germany (hence the colours). I didn't realize there was an "h" in "fröhliche" so I had to squeeze it in there after the fact. I see I'm wearing a piano-y scarf, even though this was the year I started to stop playing the piano. My two best friends in Germany are depicted in this card by the tree ornaments - one's a watch and one's a pair of glasses (still excellent symbols for these two friends, should they ever need future symbolizing). There's also a nod to my Tolkien-loving friend back in Canada - her initials are written in Elvish on one ornament. But those ribbons on the tree - I really don't get it. They're covered with Tolkienesque "Dwarvish" runes, which I'm sure I put on there just so it would look good, but they don't seem to say anything. You'd think I would at least have written a cryptic message in there, but it seems not.
Since we're on the subject, here are my friends of the watch/glasses fame (see above). This is pretty much the way I spent several months, over a period of about five years, in Germany: in the back seat of a VW Golf between these two guys. They were such good friends that one could steer while the other changed gears. But that's another story. I always liked this picture because I drew it with a stubby little pencil while we were driving on a twisty road. Ach!
Take a look at the next Christmas card, from 1991.