--- description: TIME commissioned Sanna Dullaway to colorize vintage holiday photos. title: Colorized Photos Bring the Vintage Cheer of Holidays to Life image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt50e228c398ef0539/698874f1a988cabba96b5b03/vintage-christmas-santa-sleigh-colorization-2.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [LightBox](/tag/time-section-lightbox/) ## LightBox Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Colorized Photos Bring the Vintage Cheer of Holidays Past to Life by [Sanna Dullaway](/author/sanna-dullaway/) ## Sanna Dullaway Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 21, 2015 9:00 AM CUT  Santa Claus with Christmas toys on a sled drawn by white turkeys. 1909. Santa Claus with Christmas toys on a sled drawn by white turkeys. 1909.Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME / original image: Library of Congress by [Sanna Dullaway](/author/sanna-dullaway/) ## Sanna Dullaway Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 21, 2015 9:00 AM CUT The spirit of the holiday season is wrapped up in a cultural history that counts Jimmy Stewart’s [George Bailey](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfUV-F9jFro "undefined") and Edmund Gwenn’s [Kris Kringle](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--uyzf7X%5F0c "undefined") among its icons. There is something about this time of year that inspires a look backward, not just on the previous year but on a feeling of generosity, an electric charge in the air, that has persisted over decades of Decembers. But summoning images of the cheer brought by Stewart, Gwenn and the anonymous faces captured in so many vintage photographs yields a world reduced to black and white. To make those images more immediate, TIME commissioned freelance photo editor Sanna Dullaway to colorize vintage photos of the holiday season. From the messy aftermath of a holiday sale at Macy’s to mail carriers weighed down with packages to Santas straightening their beards, the newly vivid images have a painterly feel, like eerily crisp Normal Rockwell paintings. But they are also timeless, imbued with the same warmth and joy those who celebrate hope will characterize the season each time it returns. **_Sanna Dullaway_** _is a photo editor based in Sweden. See more of her work_ [_here_](http://forrifarg.se/?lang=en "undefined")_._  Santa Claus with Christmas toys on a sled drawn by white turkeys. 1909. Library of Congress  Santa Claus with Christmas toys on a sled drawn by white turkeys. 1909. Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME / original image: Library of Congress  Santa Claus in airplane, 1921. Library of Congress  Santa Claus in airplane, 1921. Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME / original image: Library of Congress  Christmas tree in Madison Square Park. New York, ca. 1910. Library of Congress  Christmas tree in Madison Square Park. New York, ca. 1910. Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME / original image: Library of Congress  A resolutely tired Denzil Batchelor, in costume as Father Christmas, wearily answers another child's question at Harrods department store in London. December 1953. John Chillingworth—Picture Post/Getty Images  A resolutely tired Denzil Batchelor, in costume as Father Christmas, wearily answers another child's question at Harrods department store in London. December 1953. Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME / original image: Getty Images  The mess in the wake of a major sale day at Macy's. New York, 1948. Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  The mess in the wake of a major sale day at Macy's. New York, 1948. Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME / original image: The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Claimed to be the biggest Santa Claus in the world, 7'8" Jacob Hudson Nacken is fitted for his costume by a tailor on arrival in New York from Germany. December 1949. Keystone/Getty Images  Claimed to be the biggest Santa Claus in the world, 7'8" Jacob Hudson Nacken is fitted for his costume by a tailor on arrival in New York from Germany. December 1949. Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME / original image: Getty Images  Santa Claus school, 1961. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Santa Claus school, 1961. Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME / original image: The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Letter for Santa Claus, ca. 1910. Library of Congress  Letter for Santa Claus, ca. 1910. Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME / original image: Library of Congress  Father Christmas walks the streets of wartime London, The old man has exchanged his civilian red hood for a warlike 'tin hat', but, blitz or no blitz, he is delivering goods this year. December 1940. Getty Images  Father Christmas walks the streets of wartime London, The old man has exchanged his civilian red hood for a warlike 'tin hat', but, blitz or no blitz, he is delivering goods this year. December 1940. Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME / original image: Getty Images  Construction workers line up for pay beside the first Rockefeller Center Christmas tree in New York, 1931\. The Christmas tree went on to become an annual tradition and a New York landmark. St. Patrick's Cathedral is visible in the background on Fifth Avenue. AP  Construction workers line up for pay beside the first Rockefeller Center Christmas tree in New York, 1931\. The Christmas tree went on to become an annual tradition and a New York landmark. St. Patrick's Cathedral is visible in the background on Fifth Avenue. Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME / original image: AP  Christmas Mail, ca. 1910. Library of Congress  Christmas Mail, ca. 1910. Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME / original image: Library of Congress  Christmas tree market. Berlin, 1899. Getty Images  Christmas tree market. Berlin, 1899. Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME / original image: Getty Images  German troops singing around a Christmas tree in their trench on the Eastern Front during World War I. Getty Images  German troops singing around a Christmas tree in their trench on the Eastern Front during World War I. Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME / original image: Getty Images  Santa arrives to entertain Allied troops on Christmas on Guadalcanal. Solomon Islands, 1960. Ralph Morse—The LIFE Premium Collection/Getty Images  Santa arrives to entertain Allied troops on Christmas on Guadalcanal. Solomon Islands, 1960. Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME / original image: The LIFE Premium Collection/Getty Images  Santa Claus parachuting into Carol City Shopping Center. Florida, 1962. Lynn Pelham—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images)  Santa Claus parachuting into Carol City Shopping Center. Florida, 1962. Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME / original image: The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4145345/colorized-photos-holidays-past/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4145345/colorized-photos-holidays-past/"},"headline":"Colorized Photos Bring the Vintage Cheer of Holidays Past to Life","datePublished":"2015-12-21T09:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:40:01.408Z","description":"TIME commissioned Sanna Dullaway to colorize vintage photos of the holiday season","url":"https://time.com/4145345/colorized-photos-holidays-past/","keywords":["LightBox","New York","christmas","santa claus","photography","Holidays","WWII","Behind the Photos"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt50e228c398ef0539/698874f1a988cabba96b5b03/vintage-christmas-santa-sleigh-colorization-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sanna Dullaway","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sanna-dullaway/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt50e228c398ef0539/698874f1a988cabba96b5b03/vintage-christmas-santa-sleigh-colorization-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"vintage-christmas-santa-sleigh-colorization-2","caption":"Santa Claus with Christmas toys on a sled drawn by white turkeys. 1909.","creditText":"Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME / original image: Library of Congress","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-lightbox/","name":"LightBox"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4145345/colorized-photos-holidays-past/","name":"Colorized Photos Bring the Vintage Cheer of Holidays Past to Life"}}]}] ```