Friends of ours, Mark and Kitty Westin, came up with a lovely Christmas card tradition for themselves a couple of years ago. Each year, they discover and repurpose a classic Christmas card from another era, sending them “back out into the world!”

As they visit antique stores throughout the year, they find interesting, vintage Christmas cards that they repurpose, usually by copying the front and inside of the cards, making them their own. The effect is wonderful. The back of their cards are usually reserved for a family picture or two. This year, their new puppy, Polly, is featured.

Mark and Kitty leave the original card-givers names intact, followed by their own. This year, the card reads, “Merry Christmas Happy New Year, Verne and Fannie Waddington & Kitty and Mark Westin.”

But here’s the good part. For their own Christmas letter, Mark and Kitty research and then image what their counterpart couple’s lives would have been like in the communities and the times in which they lived.

Here’s a portion of this year’s letter:

“Verne and Fannie were from Wichita, Kansas, the Air Capital of the World. In 1940, some 76 years ago, Verne was 52 and his lovely and youngish wife, Fannie, was 43. Verne was an electrical engineer and may have worked at Boeing Airplane Plant No. 1, Wichita’s largest employer. He and 40,000 fellow employees built nearly 4,000 B-29 Superfortress bombers during and following World War II. Fannie very likely enjoyed a successful career as an elementary schoolteacher at Adams Elementary over on Oliver Ave. They had a lovely home in a happy and peaceful Wichita neighborhood. In their spare time, Verne and Fannie shopped for camping equipment at the new Coleman retail store. They were undoubtedly excited, like we certainly would have been, when a local fellow came up wih a brand-new concept in dining and named it Pizza Hut. The very first shop opening in 1958 just down the street from their home. Verne and Fannie enjoyed living in this innovative and thriving city along the beautiful Arkansas River. Life was very good for the Waddington’s!”

For us, the Westins’ cards add just a little bit more wonder to an already wonderful season.