A beautiful vintage-look Christmas card

 

 This is a Current Christmas card, so it can't be quite as vintage as it looks.  I can't even remember how long ago I purchased these -- I want to say it was in the 2000s so this design is obviously a reissue of an older card. Since this is the last one of these,  I decided I had to scan it -- and I'm thinking I will save it to send to someone special.

The signature looks like it says T Russo, but it's actually J Russo -- J for Joseph.  He was evidently an artist who worked for Current, Inc. back when they were still called LooArt.   One card by him that I saw on eBay was mailed in 1966 -- the postmarked envelope was being sold with the card.   I have seen other of his cards on eBay as well.  Some are biblical scenes like Mary and Joseph or the shepherds.  There is one of a Santa on a park bench in a big city, feeding the birds.  There are some pretty New England scenes as well, but none speak to me like this one does.

This scene reminds me so strongly of times when my brother or several of us kids would go out with my dad to get a Christmas tree from our nearby woods.  The mountains both near and far, the treeline, the humps and hollows of the snow-covered landscape, the suggestion of a brook -- it all looks so much like the farm where I grew up.(  Our house was brown like this one but otherwise there's no resemblance as far as the house goes.)

Picture this with more snow on the ground and it shows some of the similar topography of the farm fields.

This shows the ice-bound brook and the wooded area  (see the open place?) where we often went to get our Christmas trees. 

I'm not sure, though, that we ever walked to get the tree ... I think we got it in our Jeep pickup.  My main memories concerning the tree itself have to do with my mother never liking the tree that was brought home.  I think there may even have been times when he cut more than one so he wouldn't have to go back.

Oh, the memories one vintage Christmas card can trigger!  Have a wonderful Christmas Eve, everyone!