A vintage book for Christmas: your story as a 1950s greeting card

The 1950s invented a good share of our Christmas images. Big brands painted Santa red, magazines put families by the fireplace on their covers, and greeting cards set the codes: thick snow, lit windows, ribboned parcels.

Those images speak to us because they look like our parents' and grandparents' photos. A vintage book plays on that shared memory. It gives your story, even a recent one, the aura of a family keepsake.

A tight palette: brick red, fir green, cream and mustard. Flat color with a slight print misregistration, like old magazines. A visible paper grain, almost yellowed at the edges. Faces drawn with a supple line, with that frank smile the heroes of the era wore.

Interiors are rich in detail: patterned wallpaper, a radio on the sideboard, garlands with big bulbs. Exteriors favor packed snow and lit shop windows. Everything is warm, nothing is cold, even in midwinter.

• ✦ Choosing the tree at the market and bringing it home on the car roof
• ✦ The yearly family photo, redrawn as a greeting card
• ✦ The Christmas Eve dance, petticoat and bow tie
• ✦ The present opened too early, caught red-handed in the brown paper
• ✦ The letter in the mail, stamp and postmark of the 24th

To parents who married forty years ago, for whom the style will recall their youth. To a couple who hunt flea markets and collect records or old posters. Or to the two of you, if you like the idea of a book that looks as if it has always been there.

Vintage is also the ideal style for a long story. Decades go by, and the line stays the same from one chapter to the next.

The book is ready about 2 hours after you order. You review and approve it within 48 hours, then it is printed and delivered in 5 to 7 days. For a paper copy before the 25th, order before December 12. If you're late, the gift card is emailed as soon as you pay.