Vintage Christmas Holiday Images Designs and Cards

Johnnie and Marjorie Frey Engstom Bass
Wedding Picture September 1943
My Grandma Bass, God rest her soul, saved every greeting card, correspondence, and post card, she ever received.

When I was a child, my family would spend Christmas at Grandma's house. And as soon as I got the chance, I would sneak off to a little storage room, down in the basement.


This room was where my Grandmother kept stacks and rows, of old cartons and bins. Each filled with letters and cards from years gone by. I would lose track of time as I sifted through those letters. Every box was a new treasure. Each of them filled to overflowing with ribbon tied letters that people had sent to her throughout her life.


Each box held about a years worth of letters, and it didn't take me long to figure out her system. Professional and business letters had a white ribbon around them. A blue ribbon held friend and family letters and cards. Pink was for Valentines. And a Red Ribbon held my favorite stack. The biggest stack. The Christmas greeting card and letter stack.


The year was 1979, and I do not think my Grandmother would have appreciated me digging through her private letters and cards, but at ten years old, I was cute enough to get away with it.

It wasn't as if I was really reading them. I could have cared less what the people wrote in them. I was just transfixed by the beauty and detail of the cards.

Some of the letters and cards where from the turn of the century. Victorian and Edwardian era Christmas cards. Many of them where so beautiful, it was if they where hand painted by the artist themselves.


As a child, Christmas was the most magical and wonderful time of year. The Christmas Holiday images, designs, and cards my Grandmother carefully tied together with a thin red ribbon, gave me a glimpse of a beautiful Christmas past. And in an odd sort of way, it made me feel as if I was a part of each of them.

My Grandmother passed while I was out of the country. Unfortunately, I was not able to leave my post and fly back for her service.

I have no idea what happened to all those old letter filled boxes that she had stored away in her basement. My best guess is that they were thrown away along with so many other memories.

Though I can not have the originals, wrapped in that thin red ribbon, I did get a glimpse of them again in this wonderful Vintage collection of Christmas Cards by Dover.

Talking about Scrapbooking... You may have heard about ScrapSMART. They have one of the best Christmas image CD's that I have ever seen for Christmas Scrap Books and scrapbooking. The Christmas Angels Art Software Collection (CDCAC56).

This collection let's you bring out the beauty of Christmas past. Every Angel in this collection has the unique Victorian charm of the early 1900s.

You can print these treasured Angels on any type of 8.5" x 11" paper or printable fabric. It is easier than ever for you to make lovely hand-crafted cards, gift tags, labels, sewing projects, holiday decor, scrapbook pages and crafts.


Now you too can create Christmas ornaments, totes, stockings, pillows, fashions, gifts, table runners and cards.

No more wasting valuable time dashing around, trying to find coordinated designs for projects.

ScrapSMART makes it easy for you to add those artistic and personal touches that will make your work treasured gifts for those you love.

Before I let you go, let me tell you about one more Vintage Christmas Image Archive book, that I think, you will enjoy. It is the Dover Vintage Christmas (Pictura). In this collection from Dover, you will see some impeccable reproductions. It has more than three hundred and sixty images, as well as templates that will allow you to make and print 72 greeting cards and 20 beautiful postcards.


The charming illustrations from this Christmas past collection recapture the holiday spirits of the mid-twentieth century, to include the Victorian and Edwardian eras, along with other historic periods. It is just bursting with nostalgic appeal.

You and your family will have a lot of fun with the images and cards you will find in this great collection. Not to mention how much the people you send them to will appreciate receiving them.