From the readers: Montoursville, Skyrim, Africa and much more

I have some catching up to do, because it's the first "From the readers" of 2026 and the first once since early November. Thank you, as always, for your comments and insights! 

Montoursville 2018: My schools (Part 3): Anonymous writes: "Hello Chris. Mr. Derr also showed me (us?) 'Chariots of the Gods' on reel to reel. lol. Hence starting my lifelong interest in UFO topic."

Thanks for commenting! That's pretty hilarious, the idea of a science teacher showing a film about Erich von Däniken's dubious theories regarding ancient astronauts — pseudoscientific theories that weren't even originally his! 

This also reminds me that I was a student at C.E. McCall Middle School in early 1982 when everyone was buzzing in the hallways about The Jupiter Effect — the idea that we were going to suffer great cataclysms on Earth when all of the planets "aligned" on March 10, 1982. As it turned out, we survived. But, hey, those two guys sold a lot of books about it.

Related posts:

• 1967 advertisement for a flying saucer lamp in Saucer News (which contains links to all of the other UFO posts)
• Sunday evening ramblings
• Vintage, foreboding religious tract: The Mark of the Beast

Friday nostalgia: Who remembers 1970s flip-it cartoon books? RickA writes: "Thank you for this post. The memory of this was vague. I couldn't recall what the main book was like — but I distinctly remember the 'flip-book' portion of these. You (and Google AI) helped answer that question and also helped me recall the fun I had with these. I know we had two of them. Now to search for more with your blog helping me start my journey."

You're welcome! I like to think of Papergreat the start of many internet journeys! 

Ringing in the holly-jolly month with a vintage Christmas postcard: Tom from Garage Sale Finds writes: "I have a few Christmas postcards postmarked late on Christmas Eve and I always think of that postman working late on Christmas Eve, stamping postcards (not sure if there was machine for that by then) and thinking how he'd like to wrap things up and get home."

Old postcard featuring Markleton Sanatorium in Somerset County, Pa.: Anonymous writes: "I live on the property where the building was and I know there isn't anything there."

Reader submission: Amazing collection of vintage Cheerful Cards: Anonymous writes: "I remember selling these fondly. I had a suitcase full and sold individual cards as well as boxes. Walked or rode my bike around the neighborhood. Actually sold Cheerful and one other now national company. I still have my business cards from the early to mid 60’s. I am now 71 years old."

Thank you for sharing those memories! 

Holiday hanky from Peoples Laundry & Dry Cleaning: Anonymous writes: "My Father, John Paleczny, started Handy Hanky Inc. in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. He expanded to the U.S with a shop in Niagara Falls, N.Y. He passed away in January 1962 and the family sold the business to Mr. Harry Hosey of Old Hickory, Tenn."

Thank you for sharing this information! I hope it helps anyone else who might be doing internet journeys into this topic.

Lost Corners: The Skyrim dog tale: Anonymous writes: "Thank you for this. I read the original a long time ago, and wanted to revisit it. Googling 'twitter skyrim adopt a dog' brought me right here."

You're welcome. And I'm glad for any opportunity to repost this image I made of Coby inside a video game.

Victorian trade card for Partridge & Richardson's Bee Hive: EC writes: "Thank you so much for this informative post! I was trying to learn about another trade card from this business; I thought the business itself was Bee Hive, lol!"

Intellivision's "Night Stalker," my first survival horror video game: Anonymous writes: "I can still hear the heartbeat ... playing under all the action and other sounds. Very thematic! So good after all these years ... they did a lot with so very little."

My grandmother's 1982 trip to Africa: Ray from the Along the Ray blog writes: "Talk about.a small world — back in the early 90s I typesetted Holbrook Travel's newsletters that were mailed to their customers. They are still around and rocking it. Thanks for sharing, I enjoy your posts and get them via your RSS feed in my RSS reader."

Oh wow! A small world indeed. This was certainly not a post I expected to connect with someone. Thank you for reading Papergreat! (Also, you and I are in the dwindling group of folks who know what typesetting is.)

Book cover: Ida Chittum's "Tales of Terror" (1975): Anonymous writes: "A fascinating and colorful look at the books, life and mind of an authentic writer and storyteller from a wild and lost world. Full of beauty and mystery."

Who wants to join me in buying a crumbling, haunted British estate? Henry Thompson asks: "Does anyone know who now owns Downe Court Manor? I lived there in the 1960s. The ghost photo through the trees was taken by my father. If you do know who owns the place these days? I have some 18th and 19th century documents relating to the house and the Selby-Smyth family, and these may be of interest to the owner. email: hodt11@gmail.com"

Old photo postcard of Brackenhurst Hall in Southwell: And here's another query: "My grandfather worked there as butler for Lord and Lady Hickling. My mother was born in one of estate cottages in 1920 and her two sisters several years later. I lived at No. 1 Home Farm and spent my childhood there.

My father was the head herdsman following WWII —1973. Or thereabouts. There were quite a few families living in the farm houses. The Millards, Paul Millard whom I played with in school holidays, the Thicketts, their daughter had polio and her father was a lecturer, Mr. & Mrs. Lythe, Farm Principle, Mr. & Mrs. Mee next door to Number 1 our house. Contact me at (apaws4chat@gmail.com) if you would like to chat more about Brackenhurst."

The (new) oddest stuff I've found tucked inside a book: Commenting on this 2012 post, Anonymous writes: "Thank you for your research. I found several skeins of embroidery floss at a thrift store from Cynthia Mills. I am so happy to know more about the Mill"

Luckyday buttons — the talk of the town: Anonymous writes: "I have 2 cards, both with the 6 buttons, strawberry blonde hair, red hat with white flower. Also have a Lady Washington Pearls, 6 blue men's shirt buttons. The man on this card has a white shirt, red tie, and is holding a golf club."

RIP Art Bell, of the Kingdom of Nye: This feels like a good one to bookend with the first comment in this roundup. Commenting on this 2018 post, Anonymous writes: "Listened to him as a kid laying down in the back seat of our car as my family drove home late night. Today I’m 65 years old and I listen to his podcasts nearly every light. Can’t get enough. Love ya Art!"

Mid-century Christmas letter from Richland

During the recent sorting and pruning of old family ephemera I came across this homemade Christmas letter from some family friends who lived in "Richland" and said of it, "This is the town that 'Sam' built." 

That would be Richland, Washington. The area that became Richland was acquired by U.S. Army in 1943, built up by "Uncle Sam" and turned into a fully closed, secretive community — it didn't appear on maps! — in which many people worked on the Manhattan Project, though few people knew that's what they were actually doing. The veil of secrecy wasn't lifted until after the mid-1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the surrender of Japan and the end of World War II.

Of course there were other cities that Uncle Sam built, such as Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

I'm going to guess this Christmas letter, with its nifty illustrations, dates to sometime between 1948 and 1952.

Christmas cats 2025

Merry Christmas! I didn't get around to all the Yuletide posts I wanted to do this month, because every day is endlessly busy and I fell out of my writing routine. But for Christmas Day I wanted to share photos of some of the indoor and outdoor cats here at the desert abode. (If you want to browse multitudes of past Christmas posts, start here.)

Above: These feral/community cat brothers are Creamsicle, left, and Splash. They're both a little under 3½ years old, with Creamsicle being the older one. Both sons of Mamacita. Both trapped and neutered quite a while ago. They spent part of Christmas Eve lounging and napping in our front window well.

Here's another of Creamsicle. He likes to playfully swat my hand when I'm feeding him and his mother cheese. We connected through the window last night. I've never really pet him but it's easy to imagine him being a decent indoor cat, in the vein of Bandit.

Brave Sir Oliver, son of Mamacita via her last litter, peeks out from underneath our Christmas tree.

There's nothing Christmasy in this recent photo of Lady Samantha Penguin, but I wanted to include her because she's such a pretty girl.

Big Boi, father and/or grandfather of nearly all things, stands near the Christmas tree. He's either waiting for treats or waiting for me to go sit on the sofa and watch a movie so that he can get many pets and then doze off. 

Venus — son of Cirque, grandson of Mamacita and nephew of Creamsicle — is our only indoor cat that won't let me pet him. But he sure loves me when it's time for food and treats. 

Mommy Orange (left), mother or aunt of many of our indoor kitties, sits in a cat bed with her daughter Nebula. They are often inseparable nap partners.

Pete loves hanging out underneath the Christmas tree. She spends most of her day with her sister IceBear.

Marmalade is our newest outdoor feral/community cat. He's not neutered and his presence appears to have upset the outdoor cat ecosystem and pecking order, which is a bummer. Looking at him, it's hard not to think he's got some of Big Boi's DNA somewhere in his ancestral line.

Finally, the skunks haven't been coming as frequently, or in as great of a volume, as they did during the summer. But this fellow made a Christmas Eve visit last night. It might be Double Dot or Em Dash, but I don't see them often enough to know for sure anymore. I gave him a couple pieces of homemade Christmas cookie and he gobbled them up.

Miami's merry mural

I recently took this photo of the holly-jolly Christmas mural in Miami, Arizona, that was painted last year by Sylves Cordero. The little town does a great job of decorating its downtown for residents and tourists, even after a brutal year that saw autumn flooding devastate parts of the town.

I still have some photos from a summer visit to Miami that I hope to post at some point. In the meantime, here are some past related posts:

• Psychogeography, snickelways of Miami, Arizona: August 2021
• Cathy's Little Free Libraries in Globe, Arizona

Screenshot & memories: Turntable and Christmas tunes

I've previously done a bunch of "Snapshot & memories" posts (see list below), but what is the fate of snapshots and our photo memories, moving forward? How many physical 21st century snapshots will there be in future drawers and albums and shoeboxes? Most of the pictures documenting our lives are on our phones and/or in the cloud. That seems a far more fragile existence than we had in the second half of the 20th century.

So now I sometimes find myself documenting screenshots. Here's one from December 29, 2013, that shows the record player/radio cabinet at the family house on Oak Crest Lane in Wallingford. It was quite the behemoth, with the records stored underneath. When I was growing up, it got most of its use when friends and family were over during the Christmas holidays. But the following generation had some different ideas, as I wrote in 2013: "Ye olde family turntable/radio has been playing some Katy Perry, Daft Punk and, I think, Eminem this morning. It's held up well so far after being powered up for the first time in probably over a decade."

Since it's December, this image got me to thinking about all the vinyl Christmas albums from that cabinet we listened to from the mid-1970s through the 1990s. Many of the songs were the standards we still listen to on the radio or music streaming services these days: Burl Ives, Andy Williams, Johnny Mathis, etc. But you'd be listening to a whole album by one artist before moving on to the next one, which allowed for Yuletide vibe shifts every 45 minutes, instead of every 4 minutes. And then you'd put thought into what record went on next.

These are some of the albums I remember being in that cabinet:

Holiday Sing Along with Mitch (1961) and Christmas Sing-Along with Mitch (1958)

The Andy Williams Christmas Album (1963)

There was at least one Johnny Mathis album, and probably more than one. None of the covers ring an exact bell in my memory, but this one seems likely: Christmas with Johnny Mathis.

Some of the following are guesses, because my memory is hazy. I wish I had documented these albums and written this post a quarter-century ago, even though I wasn't blogging then, unless you count UsedPandas.com. All of these family albums will be lost in time, like carols in snow.

We did have some compilation albums. This one from the popular Great Songs of Christmas series seems familiar.

We certainly had Perry Como. This one, The Perry Como Christmas Album, seems like it would have been in the cabinet.

And certainly we had Bing Crosby. Perhaps including some of his older ones, such as Merry Christmas, which was first issued in 1945 but saw many subsequent revisions and re-releases.

Finally, this one kind of rings a bell, and it was local: The Glorious Sound of Christmas by the the Philadelphia Orchestra, led by Eugene Ormandy (1962).

I wish I could remember more specifics. I'm sure there was a Gene Autry album, a Nat King Cole album, a Burl Ives album and probably a Dean Martin album. In the 1990s, Mom added famous albums by Manheim Steamroller and Vince Guaraldi Trio (A Charlie Brown Christmas) to the festive mix.

Snapshot & memories posts          

• Adorable little me on Mulberry Street
• Kitchen at Willow Street house in Montoursville
• Me and Pop-Pop in the kitchen
• Commodore 64 corner
• (Missing) snapshot & memories: Thanksgiving
• Me & Cyrano
• Me in a Star Trek shirt
• All kids do these days is play video games
• Posing with a Saturn V in 1982
• The Phillies are hot, and so was I
• Relocated fire engine in Montoursville
• Family outfits of 1972
• Our little bookstore
• Well-dressed for first day of nursery school

Mystery Christmas RPPC from 1914

Beyond the photo itself, there are really no clues to help us discover more about this real photo postcard that was presented to someone at Christmas 1914. I figure it was either delivered in person or mailed inside an envelope. 

The writing on the front states "December 1914" and the generic message on the back simply states "A very happy Christmas to you all from us all! 1914." 

Cartolina Postale is Italian for postcard. Gevaert is presumably the name of the company (in Europe?) that manufactured the RPPC.

So, who is this and where is this? It would seem we might have a slim chance of identifying the location, if it still exists, given the unique look of the concrete stairs and the concrete wall the young woman is sitting upon. As for her, the resolution isn't very good, but she's wearing a wide-brim hat, a jacket, a skirt and boots. It looks like maybe she's tucked a small branch into her jacket, but I'm eager for second opinions on that. And it looks like she has a ring on one finger.

Share your thoughts and ideas in the comments. Also, if you're interested, this 2021 post has a list of most of the other "mystery RPPC" posts on Papergreat.

Beautiful old Christmas box from The Emporium in San Francisco

I recently purchased some vintage Christmas Cinderella stamps, and they came packaged in something even more beautiful than the stamps themselves — this old box from The Emporium department store in San Francisco, California.

The box measures 9½ inches by 6¼ inches by 1 inch. The illustration on the top is in black, red, green and blue. It features a tree-lined village and a trio of figures decked out in wide skirts and/or scarves. No artist is noted. The box originally contained "12 All Different Parchment Folders Colorful Christmas Designs." Perhaps they were done by the same artist who did the design for the box.

There's a price tag for The Emporium stating that this cost 50 cents at the time. I think that helps to confirm that this is many, many decades old. Emporium Capwell Co. was a San Francisco department store chain that was founded in the late 1800s and was known as The Emporium from 1896 to 1980. It then underwent some branding changes before going defunct in 1996.

If I had to hazard a guess as to when this box was produced I'd probably say the 1940s. But nothing from 1930 to 1960 would surprise me as the right answer.

Christmastime was huge at The Emporium, as was the case at many big department stores in the 20th century. This 1995 article on SFGate details some of its Christmas spectacles and readers' memories of them. There are also a lot of comments on this 2024 Facebook post.

Ringing in the holly-jolly month with a vintage Christmas postcard

Somehow, December returned.

We're now in the Yuletide countdown and the countdown to 2026, so there will be some holiday-themed posts sprinkled across this month, even though it's 70 degrees today in the Sonoran desert.

Papergreat has featured more then 200 posts themed "Christmas" over its decade and a half of existence. I haven't actually updated the directory since 2000, but this post will get you to dozens upon dozens of past posts, if jingle bells are your jam.

Today's postcard is a Whitney Made card that was postmarked at 4 p.m. on Christmas Eve in 1915 and mailed to Clara Hoff of Berkeley, California. The short cursive note on the back states: 

Dear Clara

I wish you all the good things your stockings can possibly hold.

Mrs. Schneider

The image on the front of the postcard features Santa Claus holding up a lantern so he can double-check his list while on someone's porch. The message states:

I'LL BE THERE TO-NIGHT

SO TURN DOWN YOUR LIGHT

HANG UP YOUR STOCKING

AND CLOSE YOUR EYES TIGHT

The idea that you're not supposed to see Santa Claus is a superstition that has persisted through the decades. When being interviewed for the Dartmouth Folklore Archive in 2021, 18-year-old L.M. stated:

“Me and my younger cousin Mallory every year had an app on our Mom’s phones called Santa Tracker. We would track Santa while he was flying around delivering presents around dessert time to make sure he wouldn’t come to our house before we were asleep because we wouldn’t get any presents. Santa’s not going to give you any presents unless you’re in bed and asleep. If you weren’t in bed when Santa came it meant you were naughty and got Coal in your stocking, that's what our Moms told us.”

Merry Christmas 2025. Here's another yule log.

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate! Here's another illustration of the gathering of the yule log, following the one I posted earlier this month. I think it's interesting that this one features three women, one of whom is decidedly not helping with the efforts. 

This is an undated trifold Christmas card that has "All kind thoughts and wishes sincere For a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year" printed inside. No manufacturer is listed. It just states "MADE IN U.S.A." I'm guessing it's from the 1920s or 1930s.

If you have a hankering to browse a lot of Christmas ephemera today while drinking eggnog and celebrating Yuletide, this is the most up-to-date directory I have of all of Papergreat's ephemera posts.

And here's Nebula with today's card.

One orange cat to beam up, Scotty

Merry Christmas Eve from Bandit, who likes to stand 

right in front of the Christmas laser lights. 

He's not helping with the perception that orange male cats have a few loose bulbs in their string of lights, 

if you know what I mean.

Postcards of Bronner's Christmas Wonderland

"Look, Charlie, let's face it. We all know that Christmas is a big commercial racket. It's run by a big eastern syndicate, you know." — Lucy Van Pelt

"What's this? 'Find the true meaning of Christmas? Win money money money? Spectacular, super-colossal neighborhood lights and display contest?' Lights and display contest? Oh, no! My own dog gone commercial, I can't stand it!" — Charlie Brown

"A Charlie Brown Christmas" (1965)

* * *

These two modern postcards, one of which I mailed this morning to a pen pal in the Netherlands, promote Bronner's Christmas Wonderland, a seven-acre superstore in Frankenmuth, Michigan, that was founded in 1945.

Its website notes: "Bronner's features a fantastic selection of Christmas ornaments, trims, trees, Christmas lights, nativities and collectibles. Christmas cards, garlands, stockings, Advent calendars and wreaths are also among the many items available. Of the more than 6,000 styles of ornaments which Bronner's carries, half of the glass ornaments are Bronner's exclusive designs." 

And its blog is awash in corporate brand names:

• "Decorate for Christmas with candy! No doubt, several favorites come to mind, including Dum-Dums®, M&M’S®, Pez®, Skittles®, Life Savers®, Starburst® and Hot Tamales®. And what about Milky Way®, Tootsie Roll® Pop, Twix®, Snickers® and gummy bears?"
• "Craft yourself an enchanted little Christmas with our Disney®-inspired, Enchanting Rose Cloche DIY Home Accent!"
• "Detroit Lions Top Nifty New Ornaments for 2024 Topping many Michigander’s list this Christmas, no doubt, will be this Detroit Lions glass football ornament."

In a November 21, 2024, article about Bronner's for National Review, John J. Miller writes: "Shoppers come not only to buy but also to enjoy a spectacle. Outside the store, there’s a life-sized Nativity scene, three 17-foot-tall Santa statues, and the octagonal Silent Night Chapel, a replica of the Austrian original where the hymn 'Silent Night' was written and first performed two centuries ago. Inside the store, lights flash and twinkle everywhere. Electrical bills used to top $1,200 per day, but they fell to $650 per day after the store replaced its incandescent bulbs with LEDs. Bronner’s estimates that in a typical year, it sells strings of Christmas lights whose combined length would stretch to nearly 500 miles."

Billboards for Bronner's can be found as far away as Florida. (That reminds me of Wall Drug's highway advertising strategy.)

Bronner's may be the biggest store, but it's hardly the only one of its kind. Most Americans have a Christmas superstore fairly close by. There are notable stores in Hiawassee, Georgia; Middleburg, Virginia; San Diego, California; Pigeon Forge, Tennessee; Santa Claus, Indiana; Mobile, Alabama; Arlington, Texas; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and New Oxford, Pennsylvania, among many other locations.

Of course, the Yuletide bric-a-brac competition is fierce, so not all Christmas stores survive. I wrote about Christmas Tree Shops in 2015 and it went out of business in 2023. 

"How I love the sound of clinking money! That beautiful sound of cold hard cash! Nickels, nickels, nickels! That beautiful sound of clinking nickels!" — Lucy Van Pelt

Vintage Christmas card: Bringing in the yule log

4

This small, slightly embossed, Christmas card measures 4½ inches by 3½ inches. It's not folded and there's no writing on the back. So it could have been intended to go inside an envelope, or perhaps just handed to someone — Rheva in this case.

A Google image search brings up other vintage illustrations of folks dragging a yule log through the winter snow, but not this specific illustration. So, no luck on the date or manufacturer. It could easily be 100 years old, or possibly produced as "recently" as the 1940s, in my opinion.

The text states: 

"A Very Merry Christmas

The season's cheer this Wish inspires

Warm as the glow of Yuletide fires"

I also posted a vintage illustration of the collecting of a yule log in 2019. I wrote then of the enjoyable "idea of gathering around a roaring fire at Midwinter for good company, good cheer in a cup, and perhaps a good ghost tale while the wind howls outside." The sentiment still stands. There would be friends and loved ones aplenty, a sprawling vegetarian feast and multiple long, snowy nights of merriment, as the yule log is intended to burn for nearly a fortnight.

And there should be cats, too, of course. Here's Pete.

Saturday's postcard: Vintage Christmas snowball fight

This Whitney Made (Worcester, Massachusetts) postcard features an adorable snow fort and looming snowball fight featuring a couple of tots dressed up as Santa Claus. The message on the front states "A Merry Christmas to You (And I Hope It Hits You, too!)"

The card was mailed with a one-cent stamp and postmarked in Fort Smith, Arkansas. I think the year is 1915, but I'm not 100% sure on that. That was definitely a year in which postcard stamps cost a penny. The card was mailed to St. Louis, Missouri.

The short cursive message on the back states:

Dear Florence:—

I wish you a merry Christmas, and hope Santa will be real good to you.

Your friend,

Louise Zackert

Five films for Christmas

Above: The Night Before Christmas (aka Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka)

Below: Curse of the Cat People

From It's a Wonderful Life to Die Hard to Holiday in Handcuffs, everyone has their favorite Christmastime films. And it's always fun to make lists. I'm a contrarian, so I'm not going to pick anything too obvious (sorry, George Bailey, Home Alone and Elf). And I'm not picking anything too violent, either (sorry, Hans Gruber and Black Christmas).

Here are five of my favorites for the holiday season ...

Curse of the Cat People, 1944, directed by Gunther von Fritsch and Robert Wise. Producer Val Lewton threw a curveball with this "followup" to his influential 1942 low-budget hit Cat People. The main cast members return, but the plot makes only passing mention to the original. It's a powerful story about the loneliness and imagination of childhood, and to say more would spoil the surprises. I will note that it's set in Tarrytown, New York, and you're "ahead" of the game if you know what that means.

The Night Before Christmas (aka Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka), 1961, Alexander Rou. This one is a perfect example of my love for mid-century international oddities. It's bonkers right from the start, so the first five minutes will either delightfully suck you in or give you fair warning that it's not your cup of peppermint tea. It's based on a short story by Ukrainian-born Nikolai Gogol and set in Dykanka, a Ukrainian village. You can watch the full film, with English subtitles, on YouTube.

Scrooge (released as A Christmas Carol in the United States), 1951, Brian Desmond Hurst. There have been many wonderful filmed versions of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. But this one, the British version with Alastair Sim, is my favorite, in no small part because it's the one that was shown the most on TV when I was a kid. And, with apologies to the Muppets, it's a story that seems to work best in black and white, with every frame looking cold as a freezing winter morning.

The Signalman, 1976, Lawrence Gordon Clark. More Dickens! The plot of this 38-minute TV film doesn't have anything to do with Christmastime, other than that fact that Dickens ghost stories and Christmas go hand in hand (preferably with hot chocolate and warm pajamas). This was part of the BBC anthology series "A Ghost Story for Christmas." The British know best how to tap into the ghostly spookiness of December's long, dark nights, and The Signalman, starring the superb Denholm Elliott, is one of the series' most iconic episodes.

The Holdovers, 2023, Alexander Payne. Yes, I watch modern stuff, too! I watched this twice in early January and fell in love with it. Like Curse of the Cat People, it taps into the loneliness of the season, but ultimately to a much more comedic effect. It's set in December 1970 (the month I was born) and recreates that era brilliantly. And it's a tour de force for actors Paul Giamatti, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, and Dominic Sessa. Highly recommended.

* * *

On deck: I'm hoping to find time this month to watch another couple of films with the potential to be added to my list of Christmastime favorites: 1961's Cash on Demand, with Peter Cushing, and Fanny and Alexander, the much-lauded 1982 film by Ingmar Bergman. 

What are your holiday film, TV or cartoon favorites? 

Colorful 1970: "Christmas With All The Trimmings"

Christmas With All The Trimmings is a staplebound booklet that was published in 1970 by Wm. E. Wright. Co., a textile company specializing in home sewing. It appears to have been published in conjunction with Woman's Day magazine, as Needlework Editor Roxa Wright writes in an short introduction: "We hope this little book will stimulate you to try new ways of using the multiplicity of materials now at your fingertips."

There are ideas for candy/cookie containers, party favors, door decorations, scarfs, belts, waste baskets, gift boxes, tree ornaments, stockings, desk accessories, card holders, table cloths, holiday fashions and more. All in the colors marking the the start of the 1970s, a decade that would see some transition from psychedelic tones to "earthy" ones.

But I'll let the photos speak for themselves. First up: some festive candy containers.

    

These two sewing projects are referred to as Silly Snail and Myrtle the Turtle. 

Stockings to hang by the chimney with care.

And, finally, some very 1970 fashions for the neighborhood Christmas party. Want more ephemeral Christmas content? Here's a place to start for Papergreat's past posts.