Tissue boxes in the tree

 Jean showed a Christmas mail-related Kleenex tissue box in this post, and I have the same box this season.

Meijer had some very festive designs as well.

Anyone else pick up holiday items like these?

Thursday postcard hunt

 I'm a *very* infrequent participant in the weekly postcard hunt. Today's theme is Christmas, and I found a few from the last few years that I haven't posted. 

Two from Heleen

and one via postcrossing.

I haven't been very active in postcrossing this year, however I received a note from the site letting me know it was my 5 year anniversary yesterday.

For links to more Christmas postcards had over to See it on a Postcard.

Happy Boxing Day to those who celebrate! 

Merry Christmas

 If you celebrate, have a merry Christmas. If you don't, I hope you have a peaceful day.

Christmas Eve from France

 These lovely cards arrived yesterday from Fabienne in France - merci beaucoup!!

"But how do you know so much about me?"

Joyeux Noël to all!

Christmas Sunday Stamps

 Today's theme is Christmas.

In addition to last weeks Sunday Stamps, Eva sent me several more from Spain, new ones from 2024 and some past ones. (Apologies for the fuzzy. images, the lights on the tree and my phone would not cooperate. The 2024 stamps feature children's toys (A rate), and the wise men of the nativity (B rate).

And anything can be a Christmas stamp with the jolly snowman postmark! Here are more stamps that arrived on Christmas mail this year.

Flags and Freedom

Elephants (2022)

Kittens (2023. love stamp)

A geometric snowflake from this year's winter whimsy set

And three quarters of the holiday joy set (2024)

And finally, Westminster Cathedral in the snow, from Royal Mail (2024)

Leading up to Christmas I hope you get to spend some time with friends and family, and have some festive lights to enjoy.

Midwinter's Eve

I learned last year that fans of Susan Cooper's fantasy series re-read The Dark Is Rising (the second and most famous book in the series) one chapter per day starting with today. 

The BBC also has an excellent radio series where you can choose to listen to an episode a day as well.

This Christmas card I received last year makes me think of this great series.

Christmas Magic

 It is pretty much a rule for letters and postcards traveling between me and Eva (in Spain) that if items are mailed on the same day, they will arrive separately, having undertaken different journeys at some point. Just another one of the unexplained mail adventures. 

Eva wrote: What are the odds that two pieces of mail sent together arrive together? If that happens the magic of Christmas is real!

Well, this pair of Christmas postcards did indeed travel the whole way together, and. are the first to arrive for the season.

Do you believe in the magic of Christmas?

Happy New Year!

 Welcome to 2024! 

This beautiful card is from CJ (check her blog out) - thank you! A pair of cardinals usually nests in or adjacent to the back yard, so these are special birds to me. I hope they bring us all the best of luck in the coming year.

Happy Boxing Day

 To all who celebrate, enjoy the day!

Thanks for this lovely card, Fafa

Have a peaceful Christmas Day

 If you celebrate, have a lovely day. If you don't, I hope your day is peaceful.

Postcard from Eva showing the Portal de Sant Pere, with the star showing the way for the Magi.

Sunday Stamps - more Christmas

 Stained glass windows from Switzerland (2022)

As Eva wrote, a somewhat somber Christmas stamp from Spain this year

From Royal Mail's set this year featuring lyrics from carols:

A very nice stamp from Greece showing the three magi, with a beautiful gold foil accent. 

And some lovely stamps from France, courtesy of Fabienne. I love the red and blue against the red envelope, and the polar bears are my favorite. 

For more Christmas stamps check out the links at https://seeitonapostcard.blogspot.com/2023/12/snowy-scenes.html

Postbox Saturday

 I saw this in a hotel I stayed at recently:

The postcard station had an array of colored pens and some postcards available. 

Would you post something here?

Snow globes IV

 The final snow globe postmark features a tree.

Snow globes III

 I had received this postmark, but it was a bit blurry and I couldn't quite figure it out. Then a nice clear one arrived - a fancy mansion in the snow globe. I'm sure many of us have driven past a huge home to admire the decorations at this time of year. 

On closer inspection, maybe it is 3 houses side by side? 

Decemberzegels and more

 Every year the Dutch post office issues a set of stamps in December for holiday mail, the much anticipated Decemberzegels (December stamps).

Heleen is kind enough to send me some of them - here are stamps from 2022. I like the color palette used, and the decorative lettering is fun - the first time words have appeared on a December stamps issue.

The designer is Miriam Bos, and she has not one but two blog posts about the design process and stories behind the stamps. I really enjoyed seeing some of the early sketches of designs that didn't make the final set.

Fabienne sent me a card last Christmas with these fun stamps. Having a hard time deciding how to describe them - modern, semi-abstract? I'm always a fan of se-tenant stamps that can be used separately, then create a bigger picture when used together. The moons and stars hanging like ornaments in the sky on the top stamp are fantastic.

For more Christmas stamps go to https://seeitonapostcard.blogspot.com

Snow globes part 1

 There are some fun snow globe postmarks from USPS. I'm impressed that the spray on postmark looks so good.

First up, it's Santa!

Christmas Eyes!

 Well, just like Mariah Carey returns every year to sing all I want for Christmas, the blog is back with Christmas mail!

First real Christmas card (and second overall) arrived from Eva.

Thank you for getting the season started!

Joyeuses Fêtes

 Lovely holiday card from Fabienne

Some fab Christmas washi tape with gold accents was on the envelope

Cat and mice

 Another festive postcard from Heleen... a blue cat and two mice in a tree... in a tree :)