I forget how many years it’s been since I accidentally started this tradition.

I had been doing Christmas cards for a few years. I really enjoyed them. I remember going to stores and trying to find funny ones.

Being known as the realtor that wore shorts and sandals year round had sort of become my trademark. I thought it would be fun to dress up as Santa since I was a pretty round shaped guy back then. Of course I had to have the shorts and sandals.

That first year it was just a picture of me dressed as such with a studio background. Everybody LOVED it.

I remember renting the costume from a place off of Southland Drive. When I picked it up, the store was very messy inside and smelled like a cat box. I was so happy to get out of there. My friend Shaun took the picture at his studio. I did not expect the costume to also smell like a cat box. Once we took the picture and I returned the costume, I rushed home to take a shower. I also smelled like a cat box.

Since the first year was such a success, I thought we would expand the concept a little. My friend Shaun and I went out in the country looking for just the right spot. The concept was me as Santa again, but this time I would be sitting on the back of the blue Mazda Miata I had back then. It had antlers and a nose on it just like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

While we had the car parked and Shaun was getting his gear ready, an older man in a truck stopped to ask if we needed help. He though the car was broken down. He seems totally unfazed that I was wearing a Santa Suit, shorts and sandals and that my car looked like a reindeer. We said we were fine, thanked him, and he drove off.

After that one, my son Stuart started taking the pictures. Most were car themed after everybody loved the Miata one. Once we ran out of cool cars in the garage, we did one with my Dad’s motorcycle sidecar. My other son and dog were elves in that one.

My son Stuart was majoring in Digital Media at the time. He was really becoming a great photographer and learning a lot of skills in school. He had the idea to photoshop me into backgrounds. That’s the way we have done it ever since. Probably his most famous card was one where I was trapped in a snow globe. Ever since then, I have just told him to do whatever he wanted.

We always say we are going to start working on these sooner so we don’t have the pressure to get them done in time to hit the mailboxes. However we always wait until around the beginning of December. I usually put on the outfit, pose how he tells me to pose, then wait for the finished product.

Each year, we find it is getting harder and harder to come up with something better than the previous year. I think the one this year with the picture of Big Blue in downtown Lexington may be the peak. All I know is that I’ve only got 11 months to come up with something at least equally as good…….wait a minute, I mean my son only has 11 months to do that.

I hope everybody enjoys their Holiday!