Nguyen-Huu, 39, who works in the fashion industry and lives in Brooklyn. “I think everyone needs to laugh,” said Ms. She and her husband have two daughters, about 4 months old and almost 2. Garg to shoot another set of outdoor family portraits for holiday cards. One Front Steps client, Mai Nguyen-Huu, rehired Ms. But after a year marked more by worry and stress than merriness, and with the pandemic and its economic toll raging on, some card senders, stationery companies and portrait photographers are taking another approach: out with the honeyed sentiments, in with masks and other depictions of the realities of this era. Many cards of holidays past paired sun-dappled vacation collages or magazine-worthy images of grinning children with pleasant messages about joy.

Understand the realities of the situation. Of the 2,000 Americans surveyed in September by, a home-décor and stationery company, nearly three-quarters agreed that holiday cards have more sentimental value this year than in previous years. The craft site Etsy has had a 23 percent increase in searches for holiday cards in the last three months, compared with last year. Paperless Post, an online card and invitation company, found in a recent survey that 60 percent of users plan on sending holiday cards this year (compared with the 38 percent of respondents who sent them last year). Staten will send holiday cards for the first time ever. Staten, 41, a project engineer, adding, “I want people to have a bright spot by looking at our picture and thinking, ‘Oh, that’s cute that’s nice - you know, it looks like things might be OK.’”Īt the end of a year marked by distance and disconnection, Ms. “Santa can’t come in the house because of Covid,” joked Ms. For her family’s holiday-card photo shoot, there were poinsettias and wreaths, tinsel and tartan, an oversized ornament emblazoned with the letter “S,” a plate of cookies for Santa - and a sign reminding him to please stay outside. It was only October, and an unseasonably hot and sunny day to boot, but Rovonne Staten’s front steps in Grapevine, Texas, brimmed with Christmas-y props.

Happy holidays to you too