Christmas Cards and Being Canadian

Alfred Joseph Casson,
Good Cheer at Christmas ca 1923-1928
Library and Archives Canada

There is that red sleigh, the snow and the cabin
to show what being Canadian is really like.

I have never been much of a card person, though I did enjoy Christmas cards as a child.  

We used to have a cardboard sleigh into which we would put the cards.  

They came to my parents, but I think I used to enjoy the greetings as much as they did.   

I will always remember the card we received from Lawrence Kearl’s sister.  It said, “This is the last Christmas card you will be receiving from us.  

Forthwith we will be giving the cost of these cards and the postage that it takes to send them, to the poor in India.”  My mother told me me that they had recently made a trip to India and this was probably what made them do this.

As I said, I rarely send cards to others.  Kelvin always received one, two, even maybe more from his siblings when it was his birthday.  Nadine, Molly and Grant never missed and I am sure that Sharon bought one even though it might not have been sent.

I was surprised after Kelvin died, how much the cards meant to me at his funeral.  I often send people a letter after a funeral.  For some reason, I had never thought that I would be in a position to receive sympathy cards.  But there they were at the end of the funeral, ready to be opened at my leisure.

The cards really must have been important, for on two separate occasions I sat down and had someone  read through them again and then talk about Kelvin’s connection to those people.

 This Brook, Algoma- Algoma Sketch CXXVII 
by Lawren Harris

At any rate, when I was in the Library and Archives Canada Building, I looked at the Group of Seven Christmas cards by A.Y. Jackson and Lawren Harris that were on display.  

Jackson saw the land as the essence of Canadian identity.  

The William E. Coutts Co produced a catalogue of cards in those days, from which you could order the cards you wanted to send.  

There was a 'Coutts Painters of Canada Series’.  The catalogue for the cards was hard backed, maybe 12” x 18” and 4” thick.  

The charm of the book is that a painting of Jackson graces the cover of the catalogue, beautifully framed.

Could they ever have known  it would end up in the National Archives?

At the far end of the exhiition is a beautiful oak desk with chairs surrounding it. Old card catalogues are also around the room. The drawers that I pulled out were empty with the ghosts of card catalogues that I used to look through in my local library when I was a child.

The following questions were on the desk again:

How would you describe Canada?

What does being Canadian look like?

I sat down and tried to give my answer on one small 3 by 5 card.

Arta