Tis The Season.

That last postcard proves that there's nothing like mailing it late (December 24, 1909 at 11 PM)!

By the way, does anyone know what the 1921 postmark on the first postcard reads? It looks like "Maria Sta." or "Maria St.". Where? California or another State?

wt1, Just a guess. Under magnification it looks like Maria Stein. Per Wikipedia there is a community in western Ohio by that name.

Stampfan9: It fits! Thanks. (I never heard of the place, although apparently there is still a post office there today.)

Here's the reference to the Willke family and the writer may have likely been Dr. & Mrs. Alois J. Willke, who retired in 1922 and died in 1941 (p. 65). If you look further into the biography shown at the link below you will note that relatives of theirs had the last name Vanderhorst (p. 63) which is the addressee of the postcard shown in the initial scan:

http://www.willke.com/iriw/ThisIsOurLife.pdf

wt1, thanks. A truly fascinating family history. I especially enjoyed reading about the conditions MDs worked under in the early years of the 20th century. The history of the Maria Stein community for being only a small dot in the middle of the USA is also interesting.

Very nice and what great research! Fun post!

The history is fascinating to say the least.
Tom

For the topic:

Ho Ho Ho Tis the season! I have way too many Chrismas cards to show them all, so I'll just show a few, all from Mendocino County, Cal.

This card was mailed early Christmas eve morning, but it was a local delivery.








Another card mailed Christmas morning, a rather plain card with a simple wish, but had a gift for me on the other side, a postmark that was not recorded when the Willaims Book California Town Postmarks 1849-1935 went to press.







Looks like the postmaster at Northspur worked until at least past noon on Christmas Day to send these carollers home.





After Christmas, one of the residents of Melbourne put the postmaster back to work by sending out a New Years card.





This New years card was a little late, but then Inglenook always was a sleepy little town.





I've saved what I think is my best card for last, a Dec 23 1908 Christmas card complete with a 1908 Christmas seal tied on with the stamp. I haven't seen a lot of Christmas seals tied on.

I wish people would send Christmas and New Years post cards nowadays, instead of cards/envelopes. Have you ever seen Christmas postcards for sale today? Anywhere?

Have you seen any new postcards at the post Office lately?

Littleriverphil - love the one with the tied 1908 Christmas Seal.

I have a friend (Tom) that owns the Windsong Bookstore in Ft. Bragg. If you ever go there, please tell him "Hi" from Dave ("Gumby").

LOL. Amazing how small this world can be at times. Tom and I used to be on the same co-ed softball team ! :D
I'd tell him, but haven't been in the state, let alone the town for four years now. Let's see, my nephew's brother-in-law's wife works right next door at Feet First....The last time I saw Tom was at his apartment above the bookstore, we were talking about his record collection..LPs Floor to ceiling shelves covered one whole wall. Here's anearly 70's postcard of Main Street ( Hwy 1 ) with arrows pointing to the bookstore and Tom's apartment.

HAH - amazing small world, indeed! Tom hasn't lived above the store for a number of years, but clearly you know him if you know about LPs! Great Post Card view.

Oh yeah, I haven't seen Tom since I moved out of Fort Bragg, in 92, he was getting pretty serious about Mary, the lady we had playing third base about then. I met Tom when I went into Windsong to ask about philatic books and local history books.