Edwardian Santa Christmas Card with Children & Holly

There's an unmistakable sense of resignation radiating from Santa, a man who sports the haunted expression of someone who deeply regrets his career choices, as he stands sandwiched between two hand-tinted girls: one in blue clutching a baby doll dressed in pink, the other in yellow with flowing golden hair, holding what appears to be a book titled 'Polly's' — because Christmas, naturally, demands aggressive literacy. The girl on the right leans in toward Santa with the focused energy of someone about to close a business deal, while the girl on the left gazes up at him with the hollow calm of someone who has accepted her fate. The embossed white border and festive holly sprigs around the poem 'A Very Happy Christmas, I Warmly Wish You, Dear' are doing heroic, thankless work trying to convince us this is charming rather than a masterclass in Victorian dread.