1914 Christmas Post Card with Green Washington Stamp

Charming 1914 "Christmas Wishes" postcard with scarce George Washington stamp. Charles Dickens' 'A Chistmas Carol' quote, 'Merry Christmas and God bless us every one'.

Postmarked from Redlands, CA and destined for Lindsay, CA in a time when you could simply write a recipients name and no address and trust your parcel would be delivered.

Green George Washington post card stamps were manufactured from 1908-1922 and are a collectors item. This particular stamp features olive branches framing Washington's profile, indicating it is an early issue stamp printed between 1908-1912. More on Washington penny stamps here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington%E2%80%93Franklin_Issues#Rare_perforation_errors

A wonderful piece of Christmas ephemera. The significance of the Christmas of 1914 will be remembered by 'The Christmas Truce of 1914'. While World War 1 was ramping up, Pope Benedict XV suggested a temporary hiatus for the celebration of Christmas. While the warring countries refused to create an official ceasefire, "many German and British troops fighting in World War I sang Christmas carols to each other across the lines, and at certain points the Allied soldiers even heard brass bands joining the Germans in their joyous singing.

At the first light of dawn on Christmas Day, some German soldiers emerged from their trenches and approached the Allied lines across no-man’s-land, calling out “Merry Christmas” in their enemies’ native tongues. At first, the Allied soldiers feared it was a trick, but seeing the Germans unarmed they climbed out of their trenches and shook hands with the enemy soldiers." More on 'The Christmas Truce of 1914' here:

https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/christmas-truce-of-1914