Relaxing

The stamp and cachet on this first day cover honoured Canadian-made corvettes, which were vital as convoy escorts during the Second World War.

Thousands of Canadians in uniform spent Christmas 1939 in Britain - one sent home this card that is strongly reminscent of designs from the First World War.

Bill Loopol had served in the CEF during the First World War - a generation later, he was working for a new group of soldiers on behalf of the Canadian Legion War Services.

There were countless varieties of specialty envelopes available during the Second World War, like this one bearing the famous Morse code V for Victory.

This government-issue envelope encouraged the user to slit the top carefully, so it could be reused as a way to save paper.

During the First World War, it was customary for a unit to decorate the entrance to its encampment, like these at Seaford, on the south coast of England. One design, by Corporal Stenhouse of the Canadian Engineers, was forty feet long and ten feet wide. Another display marked the headquarters of the Canadian Army Service Corps.

Elroy Goudie of Petrolia, Ontario, described to a friend the military camp at Carling Heights, in London, just five days after he was conscripted in June 1918.

This postcard was one of a series aimed at the families of Canadian soldiers during the First World War. The 134th Battalion was affiliated with Toronto's 48th Highlanders.

During the First World War, it was customary for a unit to decorate the entrance to its training encampment, as these images from Vernon, British Columbia, show. The 158th Battalion was from Vancouver, the 172nd Battalion from Kamloops, and the 131st and 121st Battalions from New Westminster, British Columbia. The card showing the 172nd Battalion camp was mailed in August 1916 by Leonard Adams of Pentiction, who was killed in action at Vimy Ridge in April 1917.

A member of 22 Canadian Field Ambulance, Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps, sent this Christmas card from England to his wife in Canada in 1941.