Tucker and His ‘Show and Tell’

And it came to pass… I’m not certain exactly when it began, but for the past year or so our neighbor Tucker has been bringing a ‘show and tell’ item to our Friday Night gatherings. I’m pretty sure this custom has grown out of the fact that he and Carol are now here in Oysterville full-time and so is Tucker’s astounding collection of “stuff.”

Tucker has been collecting since childhood. It’s in his bones, somehow. Last night, for instance, he mentioned that he had a brass oil can once in use (he didn’t know where) to keep the light going at a lighthouse. “It doesn’t have the lid,” he said. “I paid $50 for it when I was eighteen. I don’t know why; I just liked it.”

2012, The Year of the Hobby Horse

But what he shared with us last night was not anything he had collected. It was far better and much more impressive. In a small metal file box – the kind that has a lid with a handle and will hold a group of 9×12 file folders – he took out 44 Christmas cards that he has made, one for each year since he and Carol were married in 1970. Using a variety of media and techniques – silkscreen, watercolor, cut paper – each commemorated a significant event of the year just passed.

There were cards in honor of each of his children’s births and, later, their marriages and the arrival of the grandchildren. There was one honoring his mother and several depicting special toys which spoke to the days that he and Carol owned a shop, “Tucker’s Toys,” specializing in hand-made wooden toys. There were cards commemorating his trips to Germany to visit his cousins and, for at least one year, their trip to America to visit here.

An Iron Toy from Long Ago

To accompany each card, Tucker writes a story telling of its significance.  He sends out about a hundred each year. “And,” Carol added quietly, “he also designs a wooden ornament to go with each card and gives one to every immediate family member.”

Once or twice Tucker has told me that, now that he is retired, he’d like to “get back to doing some art.” I don’t know if he actually says so, but the implication is that he has never truly justified his degree in art from Lewis and Clark College. OMG! Forty-four years of stunning Christmas cards, each with personal significance to his family and close friends! It’s an absolutely remarkable body of work, Tucker! Thank you for sharing!