Tag Archives: Father Christmas and Angels

December 23, 2026

Look Closely . . . What is unusual about this Christmas scene?

This is a postcard from the Golden Age of Postcards in the early 1900s, probably a chromolithograph. We see Father Christmas with four angels as they load the sleigh that is powered by two reindeer.

Zoom in. Father Christmas is a softer and somewhat folklorish version of our traditional Santa. He has little girl angels, not elves, in this gentle wintry scene. And one angel radiates her halo.

Note the reindeer behind her. The head is gracefully turned with eyes looking directly at the viewer. You are seen!

This is the myth of Father Christmas and his four angels with two reindeer. This kindly elder and his angels are bringing gifts of cheer to little children during the days of wintry struggles.

“For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.” – Psalms 91:11

Author J.R.R. Tolkien said:  “I believe that legends and myths are largely made of “truth,” and indeed present aspects of it that can only be received in this mode; and long ago certain truths and modes of this kind were discovered and must always reappear.”

The illustrator is Muriel, her signature, first name only, on the bottom left. Muriel E. Halstead, born in 1893, was a spinster living in Los Angeles, California. Her biography can be found in “Artists in California 1786-1940” by Edan Hughes. She became well known for her landscape paintings.