With a different subject of Advent Photos for the days of December - what about my Saturday round up? I need to keep writing something about what I'm doing as the blog is my diary.
So I'm going to photograph some of the copies of old Christmas cards I own and share them on Saturdays with my Being Grateful and weekly round-up.
These cards have been in the Christmas drawer for years - on the back of them they say "A Victorian Post Card re-produced on behalf of the RSPB" . They have serrated edges and started off being fixed together in book form. They probably came from a charity shop or car boot sale and my plan was to make Christmas cards with them - but I never have, so at last here's a reason to have kept them for so long!
(Sorry about the quality of the photos - it was really gloomy so I laid them on the window sill to take the photos and the light was all wrong )
The first Victorian Christmas cards were always just a postcard. I think there was a reduced cost for posting post-cards rather than something in an envelope.Birthday cards were the same and this must have continued for many years as I have a birthday card sent to my Mum on her 5th birthday (1931) which is also just a postcard.
Last Sunday I finally got round to going the the local United Reformed Church service. It's only small and so is the congregation - 10 people! I'm really sad that the Methodist Church that we used to go to sometimes where Col's Mum and Dad were lay preachers, where Colin went to Sunday school as a boy and where our children were Christened (just the next village from me now) has closed down - seemingly without any consultation or discussion and without even giving anyone the chance to take on the job of looking after things. 1,000's of pounds were spent on it in the early 90's to rescue it from dry rot (or was it wet rot?). All the pews and wood paneling had to be removed and there were nice comfy cushioned seats and a new kitchen, toilets etc added. Now it will probably be sold off and turned into a house and what's the betting they use the car park for another house too. Down the road in the Parish Churchyard Col's Mum and Dad are surely turning in their graves in sadness! They had both been members there forever.
The URC don't have a Sunday morning service here in the village every week. I'm debating about going to the nearest Baptist Church although it's 5 miles away ( I attended another Baptist church from the age 7 to 16).
WI have a Knit, stitch and yarn group on Wednesday mornings once a month and I plucked up courage to go, taking along some cross stitch Christmas cards to work on that I started so long ago that I can't remember when. Hopefully another way of getting to know people better. Coffee and cakes of course!
Yesterday was a meet up with Rachel-in-Norfolk. The coffee machine in Morrisons (which had been out of action for more than a week) was working until it ran out of coffee beans when it came to my turn but it was soon filled up and in action again. I had breakfast with my coffee.... a seasonal special...... 'pigs-in-a-blanket in a bap' (chipolata sausage and bacon in a bread roll) and very good it was too. Didn't need any lunch except some healthy fruit! 😇
Rachel gave me my first Christmas card of the year.... thank you Rachel it's a really lovely card and I shall look forward to meeting up in 2022 too.
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| Sorry the light wasn't good for this photo either |
This week I'm Grateful for
- Being made welcome at both the URC and at WI craft group.
- Christmas tree lights on gloomy afternoons
- Getting out and about
Through December I hope to have a post ready for Sundays too 😲.......you lucky people!
Back Tomorrow
Sue
I wonder whether postcards could become popular again? They take far less paper after all. And there would be less plastic stuck to them.
ReplyDeleteYay!! Love these photos, thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteIsn't it lovely to have fairy lights in the streets, I find it so uplifting at night to look out the window and see our neighbours lights. we haven't done ours yet we do on 12th. I would like to see vintage style christmas postcards make a comeback as your friend Frugally challenged suggested.
ReplyDeleteI seem to remember postcards were cheaper to send too - and wasn't a letter cheaper if you didn't stick the flap down but just tucked it in? That seems to be nudging the edges of my memory too.
ReplyDeleteLovely cards.
xx
Yes, postcards were cheaper to send and I think, (I could be wrong) that it was because they weighed less than a letter. I used to collect postcards and in a de-clutter got rid of quite a few, but I still have lots in an album. Some of the very old ones are framed. In Junior School we had a teacher, Mr. Stell, who made lessons fun using the blank postcards.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this post Sue so many memories came back, I have birthday cards from years ago especially 2 when I was One. I was a regular church goer until I moved.
ReplyDeleteI love the card from Rachel and its nice you get together.
Nice you went to the WI Knit & Natter it is one thing I joined here, I miss the people from where I came from but it helps when you join other groups and you have something in common.
Enjoy the weekend Sue and others the weather looks nice.
Hazel 🌈🌈
Thank you Hazel x
DeleteNow they are what I call lovely Christmas cards like we used to have eons ago. lol
ReplyDeleteRemember the ones with glitter on them, don't seem to see them now.
Briony
x
I love the old cards and have one or two in my collection. I hold on to a few old cards that I receive each year and now the ones from the 70's are starting to look old.
ReplyDeleteYour cards are lovely. They seem to be more like art than the ones we have now.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
I have a collection of lovely Christmas cards that my parents had received over the years from the same couple. They have a lovely stitched center and I have them hanging on a long ribbon so they are a pretty Christmas display. Putting out my Christmas decorations always brings back fond memories.
ReplyDeleteI do stitched cards and I always keep any I have. You have give me a idea how to display them The cards I made for my Mum after she died where found in a box I cut them up and put them onto a cushion. Thank you Ellen.
DeleteThanks Sue, glad you liked the card. It was good to see you and roll on January when we will meet again. I liked your card, one of those funny shapped ones that has to be made to fit somewhere in the display!
ReplyDeleteI keep one card that my daughter sent years ago because it is so pretty, and she wrote a beautiful message inside. I put it up every year. regarding church - I am very biased- do go and try the Baptists! I am sad that so many village chapels are closing, I'm so grateful for the one in the next village which is lively and welcoming. I love the graphic on Rachel's card
ReplyDeleteThere is a lot to be said in favour of Victorian style m'thinks, I am definitely becoming a fan of it.
ReplyDeleteThe Christmas cards are lovely to see! Sorting through Jane's things we have come across lots of postcards that date back years and years. They are so interesting to look at. As she seemed to have them everywhere with no rhyme or reason to where they where/how they were kept I am putting them altogether and shall have a good look through before we decide what to do with them.
ReplyDeleteGood for you for going to the knit/stitch/yarn group. I must admit I lack courage to go to things by myself. I always feel like a bump on a log.
Your cards are beautiful. Victorian cards have a definite custom appeal of their own. Finding a church to attend is not easy. I'm looking too. Church closures and combining parishes seems common today. I am invited to attend one church via zoom. No thank you.
ReplyDeleteMy Sue, you certainly get about a bit! And good for you to do so. x
ReplyDelete