Postcards for the Weekend: December holidays

This 'Postcards for the Weekend' theme is 'December holidays'.
Nowadays here in the Netherlands many people send x-mas and new year's wishes via email, whatsapp or other social media. However, still (folded) cards are sent, fortunately, too.

And fortunately people from other countries are sending nice wishes, too. I am happy to have received some from abroad recently:

From Shufen from Malaysia:



I think it funny that the card shows a horse, because the Dutch word for horse ('paard') rhymes with the Dutch word for card ('kaart'), and this way it is a christmas paard-kaart.




Elena from Belarus created the following pretty card. As I love music, I am happy she chose this music notes background:



On the colourful envelope an also colourful December stamp:




Also Hana Ehagaki creates wonderful cards. From Japan she sent me this Happy New Year wish, brought to us by this ウォッチドッグ, watchdog:



On the back a special postmark and an other interesting stamp print:




In our half of the world we think the 1st of January marks the New Year. You can ask yourself if that is a logical day. In other parts of the world there are other first-day-of-the-new-year-days. And I think some of them more logical. Like the first day in spring, the day of the vernal equinox. Or, as the following postcard has been dedicated to, the new moon of the first lunar month.



The (Chinese) New Year of the Dog will start on 16 February 2018. So although not celebrated in December (thus not really matching this Postcards for the Weekend's theme), I post it today, because it is a New Year's card, and I received it last week, thanks to ChenHuei from Taiwan.
She had added a special and matching pictoral postmark:



And on the back side of the card she added this, er, cat, or dog?




Find more season's greeting-cards at and via Postcards for the Weekend!

Sunday stamps: Winter white

This Sunday stamps' theme is 'Winter white'.
How coincidentally: the first snow in my city arrived in the night of Friday to Saturday. In the west of the Netherlands however almost all snow has gone. In the east and south of our country the snow will last for at least this Sunday, but by the expected temperatures of over zero degrees Celsius it soon will be over.

'Winter white' makes me think of large winter landscapes. However, I don't have a lot of stamps showing this. Only the one above from Germany does, so I am happy to show it here.

But 'white', 'snow', shows up in several other stamps. Or not:
The following stamp immediately makes us think of snow, while in fact no snow is visible, on this Nijntje-(Miffy)-on-a-sleigh stamp:



In contrary to winter landscape stamps, single snowman stamps have passed through my hands already three times, thanks to so-called chaincards. After receiving, before forwarding, I scanned them. I hope my own card will return in the coming weeks or months, but at least I can show you the following stamps.

The most surprising ones to my opinion are these from Indonesia. Surprising because snow is the last thing which comes into my mind when thinking of Indonesia. A quick search on the internet however, learned that there is snow on the high mountains in Papua.



Also Hong Kong Post has issued a stamp showing a snowman:



In Russia there is more snow, and note the typical (?) hats these Russian snowmen wear:







These Dutch snowmen I added to the chaincards, two are from December stamps series (2012 and 2014 respectively), and the flying snowman showed up on a 'kinderpostzegel', children's welfare stamp sheet in 1983:





Here a regularly received stamp, from the United Kingdom:



And a regularly sent one, from the 2013 December stamp sheet, designed by Sieb Posthuma (1960-2014):



Finally there is a snowman on the most recent December stamp sheet, which, in a way, brings us back to a 'winter landscape' (-:



See more winter white stamps on this Sunday's Sunday Stamps blog, and follow the links mentioned there!

Sunday stamps: More Christmas / Holiday stamps

Ook deze zondag zijn kerstpostzegels het thema van Sunday stamps.
Er is trouwens reden voor een feestje: het is de 150e editie van Sunday stamps!

Van bovenstaande postzegel uit Litouwen weet ik niet zeker of het als kerstpostzegel uitgegeven is. Maar de sterren bij het winterlandschap doen vermoeden van wel.

Also this Sunday the theme of Sunday Stamps is 'Christmas or Holiday stamps'. There's a reason to celebrate: today is the 150th edition of Sunday Stamps! Congratulations, Viridian, and all contributors to the wonderful Sunday Stamps site!

I'm not sure if the stamp you see above has been issued for Christmas specificly. But the stars and the wintery scene make me think it has.



Heel bijzonder vind ik deze kerstpostzegel uit Sri Lanka.
Very special, to my opinion, is this Christmas stamp from Sri Lanka.



En hier nog meer Nederlandse kerst- oftewel decemberzegels. Deze zijn van het decemberzegelvel uit 2011.
And here some more Dutch Christmas aka December stamps. These are from the December stamp sheet issued in 2011.



Het postzegelvel uit 2008 vind ik erg mooi, maar helaas heb ik die totaal opgebruikt. Op deze website vind je hem nog. Net als het postzegelvel van dit jaar vormen de afzonderlijke zegels één geheel. En extra leuk is dat er ook postzegels op staan!

The stamp sheet of 2008 I like very much, but alas I cannot show it here as I've used all stamps of it!.. However, if you're interested, you still can find it on this website.
Similar to the 2013 December stamp sheet, also on the 2008 sheet all individual stamps together form one picture. Another nice detail is the fact that there are stamps shown on it, too!



Hierboven nog meer typische december-dingen, op het postzegelvel uit 2003.
En hieronder dat wat overbleef van mijn decembervel uit 2005...

Above some more typical December objects/situations, on the stamp sheet issued in 2003.
Below the remains of the December stamp sheet I used in 2005...



En hieronder het decemberzegelvel van vorig jaar. Sommige mensen vragen zich af waarom op de Nederlandse decemberzegels Noorse brei-ontwerpen staan (zie bijvoorbeeld een van de reacties onder deze blog). Maar ach, dat is natuurlijk ook typisch Nederlands, invloeden van buitenaf. Dat is iets van alle landen en alle tijden, en 't maakt de wereld kleiner èn kleurrijk!
En het was ook pas in 2013 dat er meer informatie bekend is geworden over traditionele Nederlandse (vissers)truien!

And below you see the December stamp sheet of last year, showing Norwegian knitting patterns. Some Dutch people wondered why Norwegian patterns were issued on Dutch stamps, but I think there have been influences from anywhere, everywhere, and it's of all times. That makes the world even more colourful, doesn't it? And not until this year, some more information about typical Dutch knitting patterns became available.

Sunday stamps: Christmas or Holiday stamps

Het thema van deze zondag op Sunday Stamps is 'Christmas or holidays' postzegels, al noemen we dat in Nederland Kerst- en Nieuwjaars-zegels en heten de 'onze' decemberzegels en geen vakantiezegels.

This Sunday's Sunday Stamps theme is 'Christmas or holiday stamps'. Which I would translate into Dutch as 'Christmas and New Year's stamps (as we call the postcards sent for this holiday 'Kerst- en Nieuwjaarskaarten', Christmas and New Year's cards). The Dutch stamps issued for Christmas cards usually are called 'decemberzegels' (December stamps).



Sinds 1987 brengt het Nederlandse postbedrijf (tegenwoordig: PostNL) decemberzegels uit, die goedkoper zijn dan gangbare zegels (ehm, dit jaar met € 0,55 alweer duurder dan de prijs van een gewone postzegel van nog geen vijf maanden geleden, terwijl de decemberzegel vorig jaar nog € 0,40 kostte).
Het leuke is dat er ieder jaar weer nieuwe ontwerpen zijn. Zo was er deze in 2001, met Europese kerst- en nieuwjaarstradities. De klok en druiven linksboven, bijvoorbeeld, horen bij oud-en-nieuw in Spanje, waar bij iedere klokslag van middernacht een druif gegeten wordt.
Hierboven de kerstzegels van dit jaar (hier enkele van vorig jaar). Ontworpen door de bekende illustrator Sieb Posthuma.

Since 1987 the Dutch mail company issues 'December stamps', in sheets of 20 stamps.
They are issued in November, and every year created by other designers, with various themes. For instance here you see the stamp sheet of 2001, showing European Christmas and New Year's traditions. For instance the stamp top left depicts the Spanish tradition to eat a grape every stroke of the clock at New Year's Eve.
The stamp sheet you see above is the 2013 sheet (here you can see some of the 2012 sheet). It was designed by the Dutch illustrator Sieb Posthuma.



Hierboven de ronde 'Forever' kerstpostzegel uit de Verenigde Staten. En hieronder drie prachtige kruissteekjes-ontwerpen van de Canadese post, zie ook hier.

Above the round 'Forever' Christmas stamp from the USA. And below you can see fine cross stitch designs by the Canadian Post, you can find them also here.



Een van de geborduurde onderwerpen is de posthoorn! Àls ik ooit eens tijd heb voor borduren, dan wordt dit natuurlijk de eerste om na te maken.

This one reminds of the post horn. Whenever I would have time to embroider, this will be the first one to make in real :-)



En een ander hoogtepunt in de kerstvakantie is Oud-en-Nieuw. Onderstaande nieuwjaarspostzegel uit Engeland heeft het als thema. De vuurwerk postzegel is verbonden met een postzegel van het Chinese Nieuwjaar, in dit geval die van de Chinese gemeenschap in Belfast. Zie voor meer postzegels uit deze serie deze website.

And an other highlight of the December month is of course New Year's Eve. Below you can see the firework stamp which I received from the United Kingdom, which is connected by the celebration of the Chinese New Year by, in this stamp, the Chinese community in Belfast. See for more information and more stamps from this serie this website.



Ook uit het Verenigd Koninkrijk komen onderstaande postzegels. De linker, met Bob Cratchit en Tiny Tim, is een uit een serie van vijf, uitgegeven ter gelegenheid van de 150e verjaardag van de publicatie van Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol'. Het complete vel is te zien op deze website, en de illustratie is er duidelijk een van Quentin Blake.
De rechter postzegel is van de hand van de jonge kunstenares Molly Robson.

The following stamps also are from the U.K. The one on the left shows Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim and is one from a serie of five stamps, issued to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Charles Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol' publication. The complete stamp sheet is shown on this website. The illustration obviously has been made by Quentin Blake.
The stamp on the right has been designed by the young artist Molly Robson.



Deze postzegels zaten vastgeplakt aan onderstaande kaart, die ik ontving van Scriptor. Een officiële kerstkaart, de oorspronkelijke kaart werd in 1888 door de mensen van het hoofdpostkantoor in Londen gestuurd naar hun collega's in het Paddington District Office.

I am thanking Scriptor very much for these stamps, as well as for the postcard these stamps were sticked to. The card shows the official Christmas card, sent in 1888 by the officers of the General Post Office in London to their colleagues at Paddington District Office.



Thank you very much, Postmuse, Wilma, Carolyn and John, for adding gorgeous stamps to your beautiful mail for me!