a treasured gift

Christmas has come and gone, but I had to share the most fabulous gift I received from my sister. We are both crazy about mid-century Christmas decorations, ephemera, etc. and she happened upon a veritable goldmine of Christmas cuteness on a recent trip to California... the Little Golden Book, "My Christmas Treasury," illustrated in its entirety by one of the most iconic and wonderful children's book illustrators of the mid 20th century, Lowell Hess!! 72 pages of glorious cuteness (plus endpapers and covers ;) ! I must say, I felt like I was holding a celebrity book as I passed through the pages for the first time, seeing so many illos that I knew and loved. As some may know, I have a pretty extensive board of retro Christmas images over on pinterest, and suffice it to say, I had pinned many of these, yet there were so many more that I had never seen. I will be pinning these images and a few more over on that board in time, if you are interested. Apologies for the less than stellar pics here. I did not want to bend the spine too much, so they are all warped to some degree and I did my best to crop out my ugly thumb and fingers. Of course, I must thank little "Steven Henderson" who received and cared for this book from "the Colemans," so many Christmases ago. Published by Simon and Schuster, it is a compilation of 23 songs and carols, both full color and duotone. His sweet styling, adorable faces, graphic quality, composition, and character development, is unmatched. Such a treasure indeed.

You guessed it... 7 maids a milking

from "The Snowshoe Rabbits," by Kathryn Jackson

just look at those graceful reindeer!

His nativity art is beautifully folkloric

from "Christmas in the Country," by Barbara Collyer and John R. Foley

geez... I'd have bought this for the title page alone! Just look at that angel!

great characters!

gotta love the mutton chops on the old fella

Have you ever seen a jollier group of 12 lords a leaping?