This year marks the fifth time that our November/December issue of Cape Cod LIFE, our Philanthropy Issue, is wrapped from cover to cover with artist Marieluise Hutchinson’s annual Christmas card, entitled Lighting the Way. Each year this vivacious and talented artist from Yarmouth Port creates a heart-warming holiday scene evocative of a time that often feels as though it has slipped away forever. Yet, Hutchinson’s creativity brings to life a scene full of memory and nostalgia, while also encouraging a focus on a hopeful future. Sales of the annual card are pledged to a local charity hand-selected by Hutchinson herself. This year marks the fourth year that 100% of sales will benefit the Cape & Islands Veterans Outreach Center.

In commemoration of Cape Cod Life Publications’ 45th anniversary, the artist made some deliberate attempts to craft a scene that would have meaning for us a company and for the legions of readers we have garnered through the years. With a lighthouse so firmly ensconced in our corporate identity, we are fortunate to have not just any lighthouse—but Sandy Neck Lighthouse—standing tall on the shoreline. There are a few other “Easter eggs” in the painting; see if you can find some that are meaningful to Cape Cod LIFE as well as some personal ones for the artist as well.

Marieluise is one of those special people, and the accompanying warm friendship we share with her, that makes what we do so deeply personal.