Norfolk couple’s quirky cards become family tradition

Picture this: For some reason or other, Daniel Ross and his new girlfriend, April, decided in 2001 to make a goofy Christmas card featuring the two of them re-enacting a famous scene.

They chose "American Gothic," did some thrift-store shopping to find overalls and what Ross calls a frumpy dress, set the camera on a tripod or something, took the picture themselves and had it made into a card.

To say the least, it went over well with family and friends.

So in 2002, he borrowed an old Navy uniform, April secured a nurse's white dress, hat, hose and shoes, and they went to Times Square to re-enact the V-J Day kiss immortalized in Life magazine in 1945.

A little crowd of spectators watched as a city worker stopped installing a Christmas tree long enough to snap the picture for them.

Daniel, who goes by Ross, and April were justifiably proud of that one. A trend was born.

In subsequent years they have posed as the poster art from "The Graduate" (April's leg and Ross as Dustin Hoffman), as Rhett and Scarlett from "Gone With the Wind," as the Three Stooges in their famous golfing pose (they included a friend in the photo that year), and as a dancing couple on a windswept beach (Ocean View) from the Vettriano painting "The Singing Butler," with a couple of friends dressed as housemaid and butler, holding umbrellas.

One year they did the Rolling Stone cover of Yoko Ono and John Lennon. April wore a black shirt and jeans and Ross wore a lot less - a whole lot less - but they were married by then. That card went only to a few open-minded friends.

Another year they did the "From Here to Eternity" beach scene (remember Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr?), which Ross recalls involving cold water lapping up their skirts, as he put it.

This year April spent a lot of time creating costumes so they could pose as the duo in Gustav Klimt's painting "The Kiss." The Norfolk couple sent that card to about 150 lucky recipients.

"You can't afford to buy all your friends a hundred-dollar gift," Ross pointed out. By sending such a card, "they know you put some effort into it."

Ross is thoughtful that way, and in this way, too - having the story of the cards in the newspaper is a Christmas surprise for April.

Picture that.

Diane Tennant, (757) 446-2478, diane.tennant@pilotonline.com