Our Family Christmas Card
2025
Cover Artist: Stefan Amatiesei
Our Christmas tradition took a different form. Rather than sending a conventional greeting card, we chose to return to something quieter and more enduring: the Christmas letter. There is a particular grace in correspondence at this time of year — the opportunity to pause amid the haste of the season, to look back upon the months that have passed, and to share with those closest to us something of the journeys taken, milestones reached, memories made, and ordinary moments that together give shape to a year.
With that in mind, our annual Christmas message was sent as a letter to family and friends. To accompany it, a bespoke seasonal letterhead was created, bringing together the warmth of Christmas with Jason’s longstanding heraldic tradition. Festive without being extravagant, and personal without becoming informal, it was intended to give the letter a character of its own — a small visual expression of home, tradition, and the season in which it was written.
In an age when so much communication is immediate and quickly forgotten, there remains something meaningful about a letter at Christmas. It can be held, kept, returned to, and remembered. Whether delivered as a card or set down in the form of a letter, the purpose remains the same: to reach across distance, to honour friendship and family, and to send into another home a sincere measure of gratitude, remembrance, and Christmas goodwill.
2024
Cover Artist: Dimitri Prica, SHA
The 2024 Christmas card marked a year of transition and new beginnings. Jesse and Jason are shown standing together on the front porch of their new home in Brampton, following their move from Hamilton earlier that year. More than a change of address, the move represented the opening of a new chapter — one shaped by hope, resilience, and the quiet certainty that home is built as much through memory, companionship, and tradition as it is through place.
Within the window, a Christmas tree glows against the winter evening, anchoring the scene in the familiar warmth of the season. In the foreground, carolers gather beneath the watch of Jason’s heraldic tyger, whose presence lends the image a sense of guardianship, continuity, and identity. Together, these elements speak to the friendships carried forward, the bonds strengthened, and the traditions that endure even as life changes around them.
Above the scene shines the Star of Bethlehem — an ancient symbol of guidance, hope, and the promise of safe arrival. Its place within the composition gives the card its deeper meaning: that amid change, one may still be led toward what matters most. In that light, the 2024 card became not simply a record of a new home, but a reflection upon belonging, constancy, and the enduring grace of Christmas.
“Christmas cards… are simply little remembrances, tokens of good will and good cheer,
bearing a message of peace and goodwill to everyone”
— Louisa May Alcott
2023
Cover Artist: Sapper
The card was shaped by remembrance. At its centre sits Jason’s maternal grandmother, Bernice Webster, whose passing that year gave the season a particular weight. Flanked by Jesse and Jason, she is shown in a grand club chair — a quiet acknowledgment of the strength, constancy, and matriarchal presence she carried throughout her life. Her place within the composition serves as a reminder that Christmas is not only a season of celebration, but also one of memory: of those who formed us, loved us, and remain present in the traditions we continue to keep.
Around her are symbols of duty and continuity. A newly rendered achievement of Jason’s armorial bearings marks his appointment as National President of the Royal Heraldry Society of Canada, while a portrait of King Charles III recalls the historic coronation of the new Sovereign. Together, they speak to service, inheritance, and the stewardship of traditions greater than any one generation.
Beside them stands the Christmas tree, illuminated against the season — a familiar sign of hope, renewal, and the quiet promise of what lies ahead. In this way, the 2023 card became more than a record of a single year. It brought together family, duty, heritage, grief, and celebration, allowing past and present to meet beneath the enduring light of Christmas.
May this festive season call each of us to extend compassion, warmth, and love to those around us.
2022
Cover Artist: Alexander Liptak
A year shaped by remembrance as much as celebration. Paddington Bear appears in tribute to Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, holding the familiar red despatch box bearing her Royal Cypher. It was a gentle and deeply recognisable way to honour a Sovereign whose constancy defined an era, and who, for Jason, was also the Monarch under whom he had served for more than two decades. The black mourning band likewise remembers Frank Matthys, whose passing later that year brought another note of reflection to the season.
At the centre of the composition, the reindeer represents endurance, safe passage, and the long journey through years marked by uncertainty and pandemic. Wrapped in a cloak bearing Jason’s arms and wearing a chain recalling the provinces and territories of Canada, it becomes a personal emblem of resilience, continuity, and home. In the distance stands the blue spruce, a tree carrying particular memories of childhood and renewed significance in 2022, when young spruces were given to guests at Jason’s fortieth birthday celebration.
Above it all shines the North Star — a timeless symbol of direction, constancy, and hope. Like the star followed by the Magi, it points beyond the year that has passed toward what may yet come. In that spirit, the 2022 card became a reflection upon loss, service, endurance, and the enduring promise of Christmas: to remember faithfully, to travel onward with purpose, and to look toward the year ahead with hope.
“Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love."
— Hamilton Wright Mabie
2021
Cover Artist: Stefan Amatiesei
Cantet nunc io, chorus angelorum Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation,
We both might have made our first appearance in this year Christmas card!
With a hard and troubled year behind, it is now time to sing like a choir of angels in exultation. The candle (lower left) burns bright and displays the hatchment of H.R.H. The Duke of Edinburgh and is a memorial to all those we have lost this year, and keep in our hearts. As the COVID-19 pandemic is still upon us, we see a small boy with his scarf over his mouth and nose in an allusion to the masks we wear in our daily life, to help prevent the spread of the virus. The patch upon his sleeve, bearing the coat-of-arms of the card artist. Dressed in his uniform the Captain, proudly wears on his breast the Order of St. John of Jerusalem for which Jason was invested this year. The background of the card is filled with maple leaves, thistles, and hops. This year we have seen people around the world united in harmony, helping to make this world a better place. Let us continue to sing together the songs of peace and goodwill as we embrace the wonders of the New Year.
2020
Cover Artist: Stefan Amatiesei
Adeste Fideles laeti triumphantes
O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant! This has been a year that has called upon us to come together and find reasons to be triumphant as we aid our neighbours and care for one another. We see a knight, saddled with his helmet visor closed in protection from the elements, as they make the harsh winter journey home. His steed, noble in its trot, aids him in his endeavors after a long year of uncertainty. A lantern of light guiding the way towards hope that the year to come will be better, and rests on a pedestal depicting the Moldovian Bull’s head [ancestorial home of the artist]. The broken and weathered shield cast onto the ground with the Roman numerals for 2020, alluding to the rough year the world has endured. Looming in the background you see a 17th-century plague doctor casting his light upon the village, in the traditional mask thought to prevent catching the virus of its time.
We have learned much from this year, but must remain vigilant in our efforts to stay the course, social distance, and help one another.
“Christmas is a season not only of rejoicing, but of reflection.”
―Winston Churchill
2019
Cover Artist: Alexander Liptak
In this enchanting Christmas tableau, Saint Nicholas of Myra, revered for his generosity and benevolence, is adorned with a jewelry coronet mitre embellished with four strawberry leaves and four pearls of a Marques. Clad in regal red robes, fur-lined, holding his crosier and cradling the Christ Child, a divine glow enveloping the infant's head, Saint Nicholas embodies the spirit of giving and compassion with a rich historical legacy. Kneeling in quiet reflection at their feet is a noble in majestic purple attire and a knight in armour, his sword respectfully reversed in homage to the Christ Child. The foreground is adorned with the proud armorial bearings of Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, representing the Dominion of Canada, alongside those of my own. However, lurking in the shadows is Krampus, the folklore figure with roots in Alpine traditions, known for instilling fear in misbehaving children during the Christmas season. This masterfully crafted scene brings together religious, regal, and mythical elements, creating a captivating narrative that captures the spirit of the season while nodding to the fascinating history of Krampus.
2018
Cover Artist: Alexander Liptak
In his master’s step, he trod, where the snow lay dinted. Heat was in the very sod, which the Saint had printed. Therefore, Christian men, be sure wealth or rank possessing. Ye, who now will bless the poor, shall yourselves find blessing.
The cover depicts Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia [for which the Christmas carol Good King Wenceslaus was written about] shielding a page boy from the elements, as he guides him through the deep snow, on the way to the Feast of Stephen. You can see a ducal coronet of eight strawberry leaves upon his head, and the armorial bearings of the house of Přemyslid faintly on the surcoat. The page boy holds firmly a banner of my arms, and in his right hand a candle lantern to lead the path to a New Year.
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