A lavender silk-effect ground sets off a lush embossed holly wreath cradling a twilight vignette of a snow-covered farmhouse flanked by bare winter trees — jewel-like red berry accents and hanging ornamental drops give this 1910 card a richness that photographs barely do justice. Postmarked December 20, 1910 from what appears to be Quincy, California, it was sent by a woman named Margas to her friend Alice at Spanish Ranch, Plumas County, California — a remote Sierra Nevada ranching community that in 1910 was barely a generation removed from the Gold Rush. The message is warm and wistful: "Hello old Friend I am still alive some. Send you a card. Chas is shuffling as usual. I can hardly write. Why can't you come down for Xmas. I would like to come up. So I wish you all a Merry Xmas and Happy New Year. Dec 25 1910. With Love Margas."