And God Bless Us, Everyone

The Victorians were a demented lot. Perverse and demented. Charles Dickens' Ebenezer Scrooge of A Christmas Carol fame probably epitomized Victorian joviality. We're not sure what these Victorian Christmas cards epitomized. Possibly some perverse Victorian subliminal messaging. One message is clear, however. Birds did not fare well during a Victorian Christmas:

Because nothing says jollity like a flock of glum birds with lighted matches stuck under their wings!