For the 2013 card I resolved to be succinct, clever, and funny.  When I delved deeply into my imagination, however, I only heard the sound of crickets chirping.

     As happens more and more frequently these days, Jade came to the rescue by suggesting that I do something Ojai-related with the big display in front of the Ojai Valley Inn sign. 

     I went there with a small camera, and found that the sun wasn't right in the afternoon.  I tried it again the next morning between rain showers, with my Nikon D80 and a high-powered fill-in flash.

     Jade suggested the Merry Christmas logo to fill in an empty part of the frame, and adding lights to the trailer.  I tried several photoshop "filters" and finally decided on "fresco". For this year, the font was "Calligraphy" with the old stand-by "drop shadow".

    Of course the colors were boosted, along with other touch-ups.  The cards were printed at 600 dpi.

 .  I think the end result is pretty enough, but conventional and too busy. 

     Jade consoled me by saying "It's OK, Ray, you can be clever next year."