The Chimney Question Christmas Cards

Jessie Willcox Smith drew this child in 1912, kneeling at the fireplace, looking straight up into the chimney, and a hundred and some years later, that is still exactly the right question.

Not unwrapping. Not asleep. Staring into the dark above the firebox, working the problem. The four phrases across these cards are the inside of that head: The stockings were hung by the chimney with care. A creature WAS stirring. Is he here yet? Did I open the flue? Anticipation as a thought loop. The most honest thing anyone has said about Christmas Eve.

The wondering does not actually stop. It changes shape. Adults who still feel something when they look up at a chimney usually cannot explain why, and usually do not try. This card lets someone send that feeling to a person who would recognize it without either of them having to say so.

Twenty-four cards across four designs, six of each, each one 4 x 5.5 inches with Smith's watercolor illustration on the front and blank inside.

That child is still looking up. The question is still open.