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Once upon a time (2007 to be exact), there was a girl with an idea.  She wanted to put together a Christmas card, and not just any card.  A press printed card (which was a relatively new thing at the time, compared to the oblong printed-on-photo-paper kind) with some kind of themed picture on it, just to make it interesting.  She didn’t have kids or a husband to put in the picture, but she didn’t care.  She had a dog.  And that dog was AWESOME.

2007: “Gap Holiday” – The very first “Julie & Missy” card happened the year that Gap had a colorful fall/winter collection and a colorful holiday ad campaign to go with it, featuring various celebrities such as Zoe Saldana, Will Arnett, and Amy Poehler.  So we put together our own version of the Gap ad, and it was a hit!  At this point, we had no idea the annual card would become a “thing”.

The front:

The back:

 2008: “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” – Putting together the first card was fun, so I figured why not do it again?  Little did I know.  People LOST THEIR MINDS over this one, and immediately started asking what we were doing the next year.  People I had just met started telling me “I love the cards you do with your dog!”  Holy crap, Missy, we’ve gone viral.  Well, locally anyway.

The front:

The inside:

2009: “Simply Chic Holiday” – I had done a Mad Men inspired shoot earlier that year, and the show was still crazy popular.  I decided to carry over the same lighting and muted color I used in that shoot.  Minimalist chic.

The front:

The back:

2010: “Have a Coke and a Smile” – I wore a rockabilly/pinup hairdo just for fun at a photography convention party and a couple of weddings that year.  Folks thought it was fun, and that led to the retro Coca-Cola ad idea.  Missy didn’t drink the Coke, but she did lick the straw. 🙂

The front:

The back:

2011: “Singin’ in the Rain” – By now, we had a running list of ideas for the holiday card, and this was one of them.  As Missy was getting older, it was getting harder for her to sit for long periods of time (she’d rather lie down), so I ended up shooting us separately and Photoshopping us together so we wouldn’t have to take as many shots to get one or two good ones.

The front:

The inside:

2012: “From Our Hood to Yours” – This was another one that came from our ongoing list of ideas, our twist on the classic tale of Little Red Riding Hood.  It was our only tri-fold card, and was shot in our neighborhood, so it really IS from our hood to yours.

The front:

After you open the first flap:

After you open the second flap:

2013: “The Hunger Games” – Since our cards were sent to people of all ages, we had stuck with easily recognizable or relatively generic themes and stayed away from super specific pop culture references in case someone wouldn’t “get it”.  But I was a big fan of The Hunger Games books (and movies), and dressing Missy up as Effie Trinket was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.  I’m so glad I didn’t, because it’s my favorite one of her.

The front and back:

As the years went on and Missy’s face went from black to gray, we knew the clock was ticking.  She was already 9 years old when we started this whole crazy Christmas card thing, and it was inevitable that there would come a time, probably in the not too distant future, when she would have to leave me behind.

Two months after her 16th birthday, that time came.  But there was a plan.  There was always a plan.

If you didn’t know Missy, then you don’t know that she had a quiet kindness about her.  She was not the type to jump all over you or bark a lot to get your attention.  If you came over, she’d be much more likely to slowly walk up to you to say hello, tail swishing, with a hopeful expression as if to ask, “Are you a dog person?”  If you stayed for a while, you might look down and notice her lying near you. It was not unusual for people to tell me, “Oh, I just LOVE Missy!!!”  Everyone did – it was just her way.  Which brings us to the last “Julie & Missy” card.

2014: “Cruella’s Change of Heart” –  I had the idea for a 101 Dalmatians card years ago, and it almost happened in 2012.  I hadn’t worked out the specifics at that point, and when I sat down to think about what the premise would be, I decided that Missy would show up at Cruella de Vil’s house and essentially “turn” Cruella.  The puppy hunting maniac becomes a faux fur wearing dog lover because she meets a dog that is just THAT lovable.  So lovable that if anything happened to that dog, even the nasty Cruella de Vil would be sad.  Oh.  OH.  *lightbulb moment*  And just like that, Little Red Riding Hood took over the 2012 card, and Cruella was tucked away until it was time to say goodbye.

The front – because it wouldn’t be right to move forward without at least glancing back:

The inside:

The photos –  the picture in the frame on the table is from Halloween 2002, when I dressed Missy up in an angel costume (funny how perfect that is now).  The picture next to her paw print was taken on her last birthday, sweet sixteen.  The poster on the right?  A Humane Society benefit presented by de Vil Industries, with special guest Snoop Dogg.  Of course.

And last but not least, the back – for the one who made my heart grow bigger every day: