Victorian Christmas Greeting Card: Children with Mistletoe & Holly

The decision to replace the children's bodies from the neck down entirely with enormous wreaths of mistletoe and holly is genuinely inexplicable—two children, one dressed in red, one in blue, are absolutely subsumed by festive shrubbery, their button-up boots and spindly legs the only evidence that humans exist inside this botanical situation. They are kissing, mouths fully engaged, one child's hand dramatically cupping the other's face, because Victorian greeting card artists apparently decided that what Christmas really needed was children making out inside giant plant costumes in front of a snowy church steeple. The gold belt buckle visible on the holly wreath suggests someone actually accessorized the hedge, which is either a deeply unhinged detail or the most committed costuming decision of 1890. "A Merry Christmas," reads the cheerful text below two children being romantically devoured by foliage — and honestly, same.