Alan Mays' photos with the keyword: Christmas trees

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of holiday happenings -- any kind of end-of-year holiday gathering, celebration, or decoration . Gold is the color of the day in this holiday scene that includes a gold Christmas tree, a gold sculpture on the wall, and gold wrapping paper and bows on the some of the presents. Even the carpet has a yellowish-almost-golden hue. There's no date on the photo. What do you think -- 1960s?

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of toys or gifts . A Christmas photo of a girl, who is smiling and seems happy, and her doll, who is rigid and tense -- and seems a little scary! Before you cautiously back up and quietly exit the house, take note of the metallic Christmas tree, the granny square afghan on the chair, and the girl's striped shirt and Santa pin. For another potentially scary situation, see The Doll Waited Patiently for Them to Come Home .

Hope you have a holiday celebration filled with as much fun and excitement as these kids seem to be having (well, the youngest one, at least, appears to be having a good time)! Best wishes, Alan

"Merry Christmas. Love and best wishes, Catharine." An odd anthropomorphic scene of a burning candle kissing an apple as they hang together as ornaments on a Christmas tree. This postcard dates to the first decade of the twentieth century.

A 1950s Christmas display at the National Christmas Center near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, features Jimmy, his sister, and Santa Claus. The jolly old gent is looking closely at Jimmy's note—"Dear Santa, please pause here"—which refers to the bottle of Coca-Cola ("the pause that refreshes") that Jimmy left for Santa on the mantelpiece. The kids are so surprised at seeing Santa that they haven't even noticed the unwrapped toys, including a Blockhead! party game box, that he's left for them underneath the Christmas tree.

A snowman carries a small Christmas tree in this wintry night-time scene from an early twentieth-century postcard.

A mother and son-—along with a tree and wrapped presents-—seem to be materializing out of the ether in this Christmas double exposure. For other haunted holiday happenings, see The Ghosts of Christmas Past and The Ghosts of Easter Past (below).

For more information, see the cropped version of this slide:

I received this slide as a Christmas present in 2015, but the Star Wars Death Star Space Station that they're putting together here in front of the Christmas tree dates to 1978! Take a look at the full slide to see the entire Christmas-day scene:

A photo in colour for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. A boy and his toys--a pedal car and teddy bear--in a hand-colored Christmas photo, circa 1930s, from the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, area. Also worth noting: the small wicker chair that teddy's sitting on, the decorations on the Christmas tree, and the nativity scene below the tree. This is the same little fellow driving this same car out in the yard in the Sonny, Bunny, and Dummy photo:

"All my dreams came true." Info on the back of this postcard: "Genuine Frees Animal Series. Photographs of real live pets. No. 765. Christmas Comics. 6 designs....Publ'd by the Nyce Manufacturing Co., Vernfield, Pa." This printed postcard reproduces a photo by Harry Whittier Frees (1879-1953), who posed cats, dogs, and other animals in amusing scenes like this for magazines, books, and other publications. Mary L. Weigley's fascinating article, " Introducing Harry Whittier Frees, World-Famous Animal Photographer ," which originally appeared in Pennsylvania Heritage , Spring 2014, describes how Frees captured these images: "Frees's photographs were uncommon because he used live animals and no tricks were involved... He attired them in dresses, work uniforms, smocks, shawls, robes, and aprons made by his mother or his housekeeper Annie Edelman. The clothes were held in place by pins so the animals could be quickly dressed and undressed. They were then posed in human situations--ironing clothes, cooking on an old-fashioned cast-iron stove, hanging laundry, playing a piano, pumping water, even casting votes in a wooden ballot box! The work was challenging, time-consuming, and nerve-wracking. It caused Frees so much anxiety that he photographed his furry subjects for only three months a year." Weigley's article goes on to tell about the popularity of Frees's photos and his success in publishing books (such as Animal Mother Goose, with Characters Photographed from Life , which came out in 1921) and providing illustrations for magazines, advertisements, and picture postcards. Sadly, though, Frees died alone and ended up in an unmarked grave (check out the article for the full story). His imaginative photos, however, continue to delight us today. Here's another postcard from the "Christmas Comics" series:

Santa's wild eyes reveal his determination to complete his Christmas deliveries as the sun rises behind him and his reindeer gallop across the sky, their hooves kicking up some serious dust clouds (or maybe they're just regular atmospheric clouds at that height). "Flora" used only her first name to sign this postcard on the front (at the very bottom) and on the back. The card was postmarked Batavia, N.Y., Dec. 18, 1908, and Flora addressed it to Mrs. Elmira Smith, Gainesville, N.Y., which is located about 30 miles from Batavia. She wrote a straightforward three-word message: "All are well."

An undated red-border Kodachrome slide.

"Merry Christmas, 1949. The Hassingers."

"Santa Claus Soap, best for the laundry. Made only by the N. K. Fairbank Company, Chicago, St. Louis, New York. Carqueville, Chicago. Fairbank's Santa Claus Soap."

"X-mas Greetings. N. America. Merry Christmas Series 403." Even Santa Claus noticed the opening of the Panama Canal in 1914! See also Panama Canal Drawing Book, 1914 :