Santa with Headphones Christmas Cards

Santa with headphones on, one hand pressed to his ear, listening, from an actual postcard printed somewhere between 1900 and 1930, when a radio receiver in the house was still a little bit miraculous.

The headphones are what make him feel real. Not mythic, not distant, just a person absorbed in something. You know that posture. It makes him less like a figure and more like someone you might actually want to hear from.

The original postcard came from the New York Public Library's holiday collection. The artist is unknown. The image is restored, but what made it strange and alive in the first place, we left alone.

When this card lands, the person opening it stops on the image. There is a beat before the words, and something in that beat feels warmer than a card that tries harder.

Comes as 24 folded cards, 4 x 5.5 inches, blank inside, with envelopes. Designed and printed in-house in Columbus, Ohio.

Santa has been on every card. He has never looked this present.