Xmas cards

Until recently, I had no idea there were such things as Christmas themed postcards. They aren't easy to find in the UK but other countries have an abundance of them. They come in many different themes, but probably the most common are:

Santa Claus/Father Christmas/Père Noel/all sorts of names

and snowmen/bonhomme de neige:

I don't know why, but I find the snowman at the centre above vaguely creepy.

Christmas markets

I am particularly fond of collecting market postcards and this season I have been lucky enough to receive several of German Christmas markets.

The one above is a gorgeous maxi-card showing the Dresden market known as the Striezelmarkt.  The name derives from "Stollen", a traditional German fruit bread, but the Dresden version is richer and contains more fruit than the other recipes.

The Nuremberg market is called Christkindlesmarkt, and is held in front of the Frauenkiche.  Every year, a young girl (strangely) acts as the Christ Child, and makes an opening speech from the church balcony.

Cologne, too has a Christmas market, in fact it has five of them! I think I would suffer from overload with all that going on.

Christmas and the markets are well and truly over, of course, but some postal delay meant that I'm still finding cards arriving.

The Green Umbrella

When I was a little girl my aunt used to send me a series of books all about AmeliarAnne.  One of them was "AmeliarAnne and the Green Umbrella".  I never much liked the books but for some reason this one stuck in my mind, well, the title did.

So when this Christmas postcard arrived I immediately thought of AmeliarAnne. I know the little girl is sheltering from the snow but I could do with an umbrella tonight because we are having a torrential downpour as I write this. Except that I have no intention of setting foot out of doors until it stops.

This is a post for Postcard Friendship Friday hosted on Beth Niquette's blog, The Best Hearts are Crunchy.

Letter to Santa

A cute card just arrived from Canada, where, I am told they have no snow.  Well that's just destroyed my mental image of Canada. They're supposed to be waist high in snow 6 months of the year.

Angels

"I send an angel to you while you sleep, it's watching over you".  A Christmas card from Finland.

This is a post for Postcard Friendship Friday hosted on Beth Niquette's blog, The Best Hearts are Crunchy.

A child's Christmas

Christmas really only became a festival where children were included during the Victorian era.  Before that, in Georgian days and earlier, it was very much a celebration for adults. I think especially the 26p card illustrates the fantasy side of Christmas for children.  These are the only two of this 1987 issue which I have.  The full set includes a snowman looking through the window and a child reading with the characters coming to life.

This is a post for Sunday Stamps, now hosted by Violet Sky at "See it on a Postcard!"

Robins at Christmas

Robins frequently feature on Christmas cards and often on Christmas stamps.  In 2001 the Royal Mail issued this set, here as the PHQ stamp cards.

Robins have been associated with Christmas in the UK ever since the mid 1800s.  Postmen used to have a red uniform (in fact they still do to some extent) and became known as robins.  The robins on Christmas cards symbolised the postmen delivering the mail until they became associated with Christmas in their own right.  I'd be interested to know if other countries also associate robins with Christmas.  I know you have different birds called robins in north America.

This is a post for Sunday Stamps, now hosted by Violet Sky at "See it on a Postcard!"

Your own Christmas stamps (UK)

The Post Office Stamp Shop is giving people an opportunity to create a stamp that is entirely their own by downloading images from their phone or using the festive scenery set up on board the Stamp Shop.

The Christmas Stamp Shop is on tour now stopping at the following places:

Liverpool

Birmingham

Cardiff

Croydon

London - Covent Garden

London - Westfield

Unfortunately none of these places is within easy reach for me but I'd go if I could.

Advent calendar

I've never seen a postcard version of an Advent calendar before, but one arrived for me the other day from Germany, in the shape of a mouthwatering gingerbread house.  I haven't opened any of the little windows for fear of spoiling it but perhaps if I'm very careful...

It was sold in aid of the SOS Children's Villages, a worldwide concern providing care for children who have lost their parents one way or another.  The children live in houses which are grouped together into a village.  They provide care for about 50,000 children in 133 countries.

Hyvää joulua!

My first Christmas card of the season turned out to be a stamp card from Finland showing the 1987 issue while on the reverse were the latest irregular shaped ones.  They are of a very traditional style apart from being cut to shape.

Also from Finland came a shaped Moomin stamp accompanied by a shaped Moomin air mail sticker

Then three larger-than-normal issues, one goes without saying - the Postcrossing issue, and the other two are paintings by the Finnish artist Eero Järnefelt: Burning the Brushwood and Forest Landscape.

This is a post for Sunday Stamps, now hosted by Violet Sky at "See it on a Postcard!"

Carollers and waits

I couldn't find anything showing people singing apart from these two PHQ stamp cards, and that only after hearing someone bemoaning the fact that they had just heard their first Christmas songs.

The top shows 16th century carollers singing the Boar's Head carol, a Yuletide tradition that may date from much earlier.  It continues on today in the form of the Christmas ham.

The second shows a band of musicians known as a waits or waites. They were traditionally a band of pipers employed by a town or city.

There was originally a set of four in the series, "Joyous Carols of Christmas", designed by artist Faith Jaques.  Her original art features on the First Day covers.

This is a post for Sunday Stamps, now hosted by Violet Sky at "See it on a Postcard!"

St Stephen's Day

One of a series of Post Office stamp cards (PHQ cards) issued in 1982, illustrating Christmas carols.  This one illustrates Good King Wenceslas:


Good King Wenceslas looked out
On the feast of Stephen
When the snow lay round about
Deep and crisp and even
Brightly shone the moon that night
Though the frost was cruel
When a poor man came in sight
Gath'ring winter fuel.

Today 26 December is St Stephen's Day, also known here in the UK as Boxing Day, a public holiday.

Peace

Paz, Portuguese for peace, a beautiful image and message from Brazil.

I heard the bells on Christmas Day

Their old, familiar carols play,

And wild and sweet

The words repeat

Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

May your Christmas be filled with peace and love.

A selection of Santas

The two at the top hail from Russia, and the bottom one from Poland.  Which one will visit your house this Christmas Eve?  I rather fancy the gentleman in blue.

Not Rudolph

I hadn't realised that the post office in Finland issues postcards of their stamps, rather like the UK PHQ cards.  If it's something regular, I feel a new collecting theme coming on.

Of course, given the lack of a red nose, it can't be Rudolph.  I think it may be Dasher during a quiet moment.

I do have a number of other Christmas stamps, of course:

Also from Finland

And from Poland:

And Russia:

This is a post for Sunday Stamps, now hosted by Violet Sky at "See it on a Postcard!"

Christmas and/or New Year

The themes of these Dutch cards all look very Christmassy but as you can see from the bottom two, they are in fact cards to greet the New Year.  It's interesting, to me at least, to see the scenes and motifs I associate with Christmas used for New Year.  I don't know if that continues to be the case in the Netherlands but I have been sent New Year's cards from Russia with Father Christmas, sacks of toys and decorated Christmas trees, with the caption "Happy New Year".  The toadstools on the sleigh put me in mind of the card from Estonia on my previous post.  I have never connected toadstools with either Christmas or the new Year.

They all seem to date from the 1930s but I'm sure only of the final one, 1938.  That one has an edging of gold glitter which doesn't show up very well.  The style of the first two make me think they could be later cards but the date is very unclear, apart from the fact that they were posted on 2 January.

A post for Sepia Saturday.  A click on the button will take you to the Sepia Saturday blog where you can find links to all the other people taking part.

Snowmen, ancient and modern

Of course it's very easy to see which design is the more modern one but there are remarkable similarities with both snowmen having red hats and little people surrounding them.  I'm not sure what the toadstool connection is, if that's what they are.  The first is a reprint of a card in the Estonian Open Air Museum's collection.  The second is a UNICEF card sent from Germany.

This is a post for Postcard Friendship Friday hosted on Beth Niquette's blog, The Best Hearts are Crunchy.

Joy

I don't think I've ever had a knitted Christmas card before, well, when I say knitted, I mean an image of knitting.  A lovely and unusual image.

Dot to dot

Merry Christmas, of Happy Holidays if you prefer, from Germany.  I think I can guess the picture even without joining the dots.  The red nose gives it away. :)