Christmas Cards | “When are the babies?” Never “

Christmas is not just love. It’s also a bunch of flat questions …

“Have you finally met someone?” When do you become a grandparent? Am I wrong or have you lost weight? Holiday gatherings often come with a series of questions that, as well-intentioned as they are, are intrusive. (Please note how polite I am when I write “intrusive.”) This can of course be answered by rolling your eyes, sighing, or pretending to find them funny, again this year. The good news is that we can now also respond with pretty greeting cards! No, but, aren’t we living in a great time?

Take the case of Daphnée Côté-Hallé. The one that many know as an actress (Miscellaneous, The killing, Between two sheets) is also a visual artist. Her line of collages, called Les microcosmes, includes a few Christmas cards that carry rather direct messages.

“Yes, still single matante”

“When are the babies?” Never ”

” Joyfuls Holidays digestion ”

Let’s say that we are far from the wishes of happiness, prosperity and good health. However, this approach is part of an irreverent current which has the wind in its sails. Cards with bite are plentiful in stores and on web platforms like Etsy. Are we reviewing our holiday report?

“Christmas is an interesting cycle,” replies Daphnée Côté-Hallé, reached by phone. It’s a bit of an annual update, done as a family … But sometimes, the update does not tempt you! Because you are not doing well or you have not arrived where you hoped, for example. So for a lot of people, the holiday season is anxiety-provoking, and comedy cards defuse that, I think. ”

It’s true: the lights, the small snow, the hot drinks and Mariah Carey do not always overcome anxiety. Maybe we’re tired of pretending everything is rolling, in the name of holiday magic?

I threw the question to Marie-Claude Marquis, who also creates a little slobbery Christmas cards …

“The traditional and religious Christmas, as we were taught, is not what we experience at all,” the visual artist told me, on the phone. Families are getting smaller and smaller, we party a lot with friends, we don’t want to be happy just because the movies tell us we should be and the messages we want to convey are different. . ”

Since 2018, the designer has been offering a free downloadable card whose wish could be summed up as follows: can we not treat ourselves to gifts, but rather eat grilled cheese while dancing in underwear? The menu has been shared thousands of times, showing a certain fed up with traditional codes.

It should be noted that irreverence is part of the signature of Marie-Claude Marquis, who owns the Merci Bonsoir line of accessories (and whose creation was recently acquired by none other than Madonna!). “My mission is to say out loud what people think softly, to bring out the classics found in pharmacies and to celebrate the Quebec identity, in particular by using expressions from here. ”

This results in small masterpieces of cards showing, for example:

“Ho, ho, h’osti it’s Christmas! ”

“Happy Holidays – Love, health and the cry of peace”

“Christmas rhymes with cocktail … It has nothing to do with it, but I had to talk about it”

If Marie-Claude Marquis has been playing with slight insolence for years, she has nevertheless seen a wind of change in recent months: a return to correspondence. As the pandemic prevented us from seeing those we loved, particularly many of us sent little sweet words to our loved ones, according to the visual artist.

When we write to each other with friends, we want to talk to each other frankly, to make each other smile, to let the other know that we know him and that we understand him. This perhaps explains, in part, the mocking cards that are so in vogue …

“I don’t want to create cards that you could give to your boss, but cards that you offer to a friend and which are personalized,” adds Daphnée Côté-Hallé. My card on non-parenting, when people see it they laugh and say they know exactly who they’re going to give it to. It makes them happy to be able to pass these kinds of messages, for Christmas. I like to offer them opportunities to hijack the holiday codes. ”

Thanks to the creators who play Christmas, the magic of the Holidays can take on multiple meanings this year. It’s up to us to determine what we want to explore and what we really want to communicate to those around us.

Besides, I would take a card to send a firm, but benevolent message to close conspiratorialists … If ever someone with a sense of humor and great artistic talent could put on it …