Bah Humbug Christmas Cards

Charles Dana Gibson drew him in pen and ink in 1897, for a series of Dickens character studies. The lines are dense and unsparing. He is slumped in a wingback chair, coat to his ankles, one hand gripping the arm like he is not going anywhere. He has not been visited yet. Nothing has changed. That is exactly where this card lives.

We know how the story ends. Everyone does. But most people spend at least some part of December in the before, tired, a little resistant, not quite ready to feel what the season is asking them to feel. This card does not apologize for that. It just names it.

The illustration reads as strikingly modern for something drawn in the nineteenth century. There is a sharpness to it, an attitude, that did not soften with age. "BAH HUMBUG." sits in the upper left corner in small, spaced serif capitals, exactly the right amount of punctuation for a man who has not changed his mind about any of this.

Each set holds 24 cards, 4 x 5.5 inches, blank inside, with white envelopes. The cardstock is 100 lb and the cards ship in a crush-proof box, 24 cards for the part of Christmas most cards won't touch.

Send it to the person who would rather roll their eyes together than pretend. They will know exactly what you meant.