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!

In: from Spain and Japan

From Eva I received this wonderful shaped stamp from Spain, showing a dragonfly. See how delicate the wings are, emphasized by the way the stamp was cut out!
The stamp on the right is special, too: before the naked eye the king's background looks shining silver, but the scanner's eye turned this into the colours of the Spanish flag!

The stamps traveled to me, along with a kind message, on the back side of this postcard:



This Samurai cat has been designed by Hana from Japan, from whom I've received this philatelic monkey.

Thank you very much, Eva!

In: from Japan

This beautifully designed philatelic Monkey, created for the Year of the Monkey, I received from the designer herself, Hana from Japan.

She added a nice stamp and postmark, both showing Miffy (Nijntje), a character originally designed by Dutch illustrator Dick Bruna:



Also from Japan I received this great card, sent by Natalie:



And also she added stamps showing illustrations, of food and of music:



Thank you very much, Hana and Natalie!