Timely Christmas card find

Q. This large Christmas card was found at an auction among some sheet music. It came in the unaddressed envelope and was never sent. The front is decorated with a wallpaper-type design with candles and “Christmas 1929.” The same design appears inside with a printed 15 line “handwritten” message from Flora McCrea Eaton (Lady). The right side is fitted with a photosadly, graph titled “Kawandag” Muskoka 1929. The people are named — the central figure being Lady Eaton. Closed, it is 28 centimetres wide (11 inches). I’d like to know what this is all about. Laurie, New Hamburg

A. What a nice piece of ephemera you discovered — just in time for Christmas. Lady Eaton stands with her six children, from left: John David, Gilbert McCrea, Florence Mary, Evlyn Beatrice, Timothy Craig and Edgar Allison. Lady Eaton’s husband Sir John Craig Eaton had taken over the Eaton’s of Canada empire his father Timothy had built but, died in 1922 at the age of 45 from pneumonia. Lady Eaton’s sincere message of seasons greetings and family is testament to her unflagging character in view of personal loss and the recent shock of the October stock market crash. Kawandag — Ojibway for “The meeting place of the pines” was the name given to the summer property by the Eaton family upon purchase of it in 1906. These cards — different each year — were sent to friends and acquaintances for at least a 20-year period through the 1920s and into the 1940s. Some have prints of paintings but this one with a photographic print holds more interest for collectors of Eaton’s items. Its value is $100.