Victorian Christmas Greeting Card with Winter Cottage Scene

The Victorian designer seems to believe that a perfectly nice evergreen garland with pinecones and a red satin bow desperately needed a tiny snow-buried cottage trapped inside a gold oval locket, like a hostage situation but make it festive. The cottage — red chimney, buried under aggressive amounts of snow, a single yellow tree keeping watch nearby — peers out from its gilded prison with the quiet desperation of someone who has been inside since November. Meanwhile, the pinecones flanking the oval frame are doing absolutely the most, botanically speaking, while the pale lacy background whispers 'I was textured on a budget.' 'A Joyful Christmas,' it declares, in cheerful red and blue script, with the energy of someone insisting everything is fine while a house slowly disappears into a snowdrift.