Russian dolls and Christmas

A prepaid envelope from Russia ! The prepaid envelope was issued for the Sochi Winter games of 2014 .

The official mascots of the Paralympic Games in Sochi  were - 

Ray of Light, alternative known as Fire Boy (in Russian: Luchik, Лучик)

Snowflake, also known as Snow Girl (in Russian: Snezhinka, Снежинка)

EUROPA 2015 - Old toys - Russia 

Russian Post released a special stamp on 16th February 2015 with the EUROPA theme “Old toys” - depicting Dymkovo toys and Matryoshka Dolls. Dymkovo toys, also known as the Vyatka toys or Kirov toys are molded painted clay figures of people and animals (sometimes in the form of a pennywhistle). It is one of the old Russian folk art handicrafts, which still exists in a village of Dymkovo near Kirov (former Vyatka). Traditionally, the Dymkovo toys are made by women.

A matryoshka doll, also known as Russian nesting doll, refers to a set of wooden dolls of decreasing size placed one inside the other. The first Russian nested doll set was made in 1890 by Vasily Zvyozdochkin from a design by Sergey Malyutin, who was a folk crafts painter at Abramtsevo. Traditionally the outer layer is a woman, dressed in a sarafan, a long and shapeless traditional Russian peasant jumper dress. The figures inside may be of either gender; the smallest, innermost doll is typically a baby turned from a single piece of wood. Much of the artistry is in the painting of each doll, which can be very elaborate.

The cancellation is on the Christmas Day , 2018 with an image of Santa Claus ! 

Thanks Natalie for this cover :) 

And another postcard with a Santa Claus special cancellation from Penza, Russia again !! 

I guess Santa has been very happy with me this year ;)