Greeting Cards

This Canadian soldier spent Christmas 1943 in North Africa, but even there he was able to enjoy Canadian cigarettes sent by the Ingersoll Cream Cheese Company.

Merchant seamen were often forgotten in wartime, but this Christmas card drew attention to the vital role they played in supporting the war effort.

This Christmas card, produced by the Salvation Army, used an idyllic Canadian wilderness scene rather than any holiday imagery.

For the unidentified soldier who sent this card home in 1945, the best Christmas present was the knowledge that this was the last wartime Christmas to be spent away from home.

Canadian chaplains serving in France distributed these cards to their troops at Easter in 1915 - some of them would spend the next five Easters away from their families.

This unidentified gunner could have been spending his fourth Christmas away from his family, and might have had another three Christmases apart still to endure.

This Christmas greeting, sent by a member of the Royal Canadian Dragoons serving in Italy, was sent by V-Mail, a system of microfilming letters so they took up less shipping space.

Saskatoon's war memorial might seem like a strange image to use on a Christmas card, but it represents the importance of the memory of the First World War to Canada in the 1930s.

On this card sent home by a Canadian soldier serving with the occupation forces in Germany, Santa Claus has exchanged his reindeer for a military-issue jeep.

This Christmas message draws a direct connection between a medieval knight on horseback and the lowly soldier of the Second World War.