A surprise in the mail!

A scan of the stamped end of the package and its interesting stamps

This past week, I found a fun surprise in my mailbox!  As mentioned, I had decided to celebrate Rudolph Day (the 25th) mostly on Tuesday, a day early, because Wednesdays are so busy for me.  I've detailed here on the blog how I spent that day, and then also a bit about what little I could do on Wednesday and Thursday.  Thursday I found a parcel in my mailbox from New Zealand, of all places!  It was from my craft forum friend Ann.

What in the world could Ann be sending me?  We had exchanged cards at Christmas and hers had arrived in December in a timely way, so it wasn't a delayed Christmas card.

But yet, as I found out upon opening the package, it did contain Christmas cards!   Ann had written me a note inside of a lovely Christmas notecard:

Isn't it so pretty?  The wreath pictured in the photo is made from clementines, a most Christmasy fruit.  The card is from England, and the back of the card gives detailed directions for making a wreath out of clementines.

In the note, Ann explained that she had been given a bundle of unused vintage cards.  There were some duplicates among them, so she thought of sending some cards to me.  She reads this blog and knows of my love for and my collection of vintage cards, especially the smaller vignettes that are often found on the insides of the older cards.  Most of these cards have those.  A couple of the cards are humorous, some are whimsical, many are beautiful -- but they are all unique and none are like any cards that I already had in my collection.

Over the next few weeks I plan to scan these cards so I can share them with all of you.  What fun it will be!

Thanks again for your thoughtfulness, Ann!  It was truly a most delightful surprise and added to my simple celebrations of February's Rudolph Day.