Ho, ho...ho?

A few years ago, I was walking through one of the alleys in my neighborhood, as is my custom--you never know what you'll find there--when I came across a bag of discarded family pictures. (How immeasurably sad for someone's whole photographic history to be thrown away, as if they'd never existed at all.) Among the photos was the postcard above. I don't know if it's a picture of anyone from that family or just a random postcard that somebody in that family had collected, but it's one of the strangest holiday images I've ever seen. The little girl sitting on Santa's lap seems happy enough, but Santa himself is one sinister-looking character, and they appear to be sitting on a stuffed donkey. Not the image I'd want to send around to the aunts and uncles for Christmas--unless I wanted to give them nightmares.