Five vintage holiday postcards that will be traveling the world

These postcards are out the door...

This month, I am "recycling" some old and very old Christmas postcards that were either lightly used or never used and sending them out as international Postcrossing exchanges. I hope they will be some special, vintage surprises in the mailboxes of postcards lovers in places like Austria, Poland, Hong Kong, Crimea, Taiwan, Belarus, Belgium and the Faroe Islands. (Yes, one card is en route to that northern nation, which has a ram on its coat of arms.)

So, before this ephemera leaves the Otto household forever, here's a look at some of these cool cards, which, like the denizens of the Island of Misfit Toys, finally have a use and purpose in their lives.

Note: I think this one is my favorite, with its mixture of Christmas and Candyland atmospheres. I don't know who Russell and Bertha are.

Note: This beat-up card was originally given to Mable by Sadie, but had no other writing on the back. So I was able to repurpose it.

Note: This isn't technically a postcard. But it's quite merry and suits the purpose fine. It's an old gift-subscription notice for the Farm Journal of Philadelphia.