#3: Nate's ER and Bait Shop

Onto my favorite 3 XMas Cards. Our #3 rated card goes all the way back to 1997, "Nate's ER & Bait Shop."

Why choose this card amongst the top 3? It consists merely of a store-bought card frame with a photo of myself (as a 2nd-year medical student) about to saw off the leg of fellow med student Dan Berg (photo credit Terry Cummings--the Washington University medical student, not the former Milwaukee Bucks basketball star) with a barely-visible "Nate's ER and Bait Shop" scrawled on the blackboard, off of which there is considerable glare. I choose this in my Top 3 because (a) the concept is inherently funny, (b) my hairy friend Dan Berg is inherently funny, and (c) it's the first time an element of the bizarre made itself into one of my Christmas cards (as I've mentioned earlier, the first card from '96 I don't consider all that interesting) . Without this card, there would be no Nate holiday greeting card tradition.

Claire and Sophie are back!! And with them comes a host of glorious Christmas photos, including these pics documenting first encounter with Pere Noel: