Random Victorian Greetings of the Season

I don't know much about Victorian greeting cards, but some of the ones I've collected seem to indicate that the Victorians were much less conventional than one might think. Let's look at a couple of Christmas cards from my collection. The one above shows lush tropical greenery and a pink parrot, the one below has roses and a butterfly. Not exactly traditional English Christmas scenes.

I think the answer to this is that the cards were generic and various greeting were overprinted on the cards. So they could be used for birthdays, Easter or Christmas.

However, this next one, showing medieval boys playing with quoits(?)  must have been intended as a Christmas card, as you can see that the quoit the boy is about to pick up has 'A Merry Xmas' written on it. This one is dated 1880 on the back.

This next one is very odd. Presumably the message of  'A Merry Christmas' on a picture of boys fighting was meant to be ironic? Or are they meant to be dancing rowdily? Either way, I'm sure it'll end in tears...

 The New Year cards are less spectacularly random. Summer flowers seem pretty normal by comparison.

I'm pretty sure this next one was meant to be a Valentine's card. Again, the overprinting made use of whatever cards they happened to have at hand.

This last one is also overprinted, but could make sense - it could be interpreted as pulling the curtain down on the Old Year, or the New Year making an entrance, maybe. Or maybe it is just completely random...

 Happy New Year!

A Lovely Christmas Card from me to you

Merry Christmas from the dog, the pink teddy and the bizarre cat-pig! I hope you all find something as wonderful as this under your Christmas tree!
Taking a Christmas break now - see you in the New Year! x

Mecki, Micki, Macki, Mucki

I want to keep up the Christmas theme this week, so I thought I would share this postcard. It depicts a typical alpine Christmas scene with hedgehogs. Yes, hedgehogs who go skiing (on cardboard mountains) and drive a sleigh. And on the subject of the sleigh  - is that a teeny tiny deer, or are the hedgehogs enormous?

So can I even be sure they are hedgehogs? Yes, because I recognise them as Mecki and his friends.

Apparently, Mecki the hedgehog was a very popular character in Germany. Micki was his wife, and Macki and Mucki were their children.

I think they appeared on TV, but I know there were dolls, because I had this one not so long ago. Obviously, this is Macki, not Mecki, and most definitely not Micki or Mucki.

So now you know.

Santa's Old Jalopy

I wrote yesterday about the 1960s fashion for old cars. Santa was not immune to that trend, and he seems to have gone crazy for veteran cars for a while, leaving poor old Rudolph, Prancer and co at home.

I apologise for the quality of these scans, but the top pic is a tiny little label, and the next two are from rather creased vintage wrapping paper.

 I'm not too sure how those holly-covered tyres above are going to work out...

But in this next one, the holly seems to have taken over, and is driving the cars by itself.

Beep! beep! It's Christmas!

Time On My Hands

What was the deal with 'olde-worlde' cars in the 1960s? And pink trouser suits? And kooky hats?

Naturally, the series of photos on this LP makes no reference to the music. The photos hover somewhere between mail-order catalogue poses and a filmed sequence in The Anita Harris Show, where the Young Generation run about trying to look 'with-it', on a cloudy day at Beaulieu House.

I miss The Young Generation....

Ugly Santas

Jolly Old St Nick!  

 The Beard That Ate Santa

 I'm getting out the Olay Regenerist, but I think I may be too late.

 Years of alcoholic poisoning have taken their toll...

But they all enjoy their karaoke night.

"Last Christmas, I gave you my heart..."

Postcard Friday - A Time for Children

Christmas is a time for the children, isn't it? These two are so overwhelmed by happiness and excitement, they can hardly raise a smile. I imagine if he keeps making a noise with that plastic clarinet (??), she'll hit him over the head with that too-solid-looking tiger.

 If you look closely, you'll see that's actually a birthday present in the card above (with some cute wrapping paper of ducks with umbrellas). However, the giving of presents with the whole family in nightwear just looks like Christmas to me, so I'm including it anyway. The father puts me in mind of Victor Mature. He looks very suave in his dressing gown, and I like the fact that he's gone to the trouble of putting a towel like a scarf around his neck. Very proper.

Crikey! Look at those eyes! And the mouth! Under her calm exterior, this little girl is a seething inferno of resentment, waiting and plotting for the time when she can take her revenge on the world.
(Cue the theme from 'The Omen'.)
Yes, Raggedy Ann, you can smile now, but just you wait...