Emmaus Christmas Card for 2011 Features Shelter House

Chickadees sit on a branch overlooking the snow-covered Shelter House.  Evergreens and leafless trees are speckled with splashes of white. Wreaths and garland adorn the front of the home. And a few snowflakes trickle down the scene.

Bob Boehmer has done it again. He volunteered to paint the 7th in a continuing series of Emmaus Christmas cards and has wowed the community with his talents once more. This year's card features the as it looks in the winter, along with the history of the home on the card’s back.

Six years ago the Emmaus Arts Commission decided to try something new as a way of raising funds, but the commission wasn’t sure if the community would have any interest in such a project, said Boehmer, head of the arts commission. He offered to paint the first card, transitioning from painting a yearly family Christmas card begun a number of years before after his son was born.

“I guess the residents like it—we’re in our 7th year of the Christmas card project,” he added. “It’s been very successful.”

Boehmer said he was approached by members of the Shelter House to paint a card. He went to the location several times during snowfalls and took photos of the site, eventually blending them together to form the painted picture, which was used for this year’s card.

The cards, which are blank on the inside, are on sale at “all the hot spots in Emmaus and Upper Milford Township,” said Boehmer. Some of the locations include the , , , , and .  A 10-pack of cards, with envelopes, sells for $12.00.

The Emmaus Arts Commission donated framed limited edition prints of the past seven years of Boehmer’s Christmas cards to the borough at Emmaus Borough Council's Dec. 5 meeting. They will become part of a planned gallery in .