From the messy aftermath of a holiday sale at Macy’s to mail carriers weighed down with packages to Santas straightening their beards, TIME commissioned Sanna Dullaway to colorize vintage photos of the holiday season.

The newly vivid images have a painterly feel, like eerily crisp Normal Rockwell paintings. But no one can deny the timeless warmth and joy the photos invoke every time we look at them...

1. Santa Claus with Christmas toys on a sled drawn by white turkeys. 1909.

Library of Congress

Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME

2. Santa Claus in airplane, 1921.

Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME

3. Christmas tree in Madison Square Park. New York, ca. 1910.

Library of Congress

Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME

4. 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

Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME

5. The mess in the wake of a major sale day at Macy's. New York, 1948.

Nina Leen—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME

6. 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

Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME

7. Santa Claus school, 1961.

Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME

8. Letter for Santa Claus, ca. 1910.

Library of Congress

Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME

9. Father Christmas walks the streets of wartime London. December 1940.

Getty Images

Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME

10. Construction workers line up for pay beside the first Rockefeller Center Christmas tree in New York, 1931.

AP

Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME

11. Christmas Mail, ca. 1910.

Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME

12. Christmas tree market. Berlin, 1899.

Getty Images

Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME

13. German troops singing around a Christmas tree in their trench on the Eastern Front during World War I.

Getty Images

Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME

14. Santa arrives to entertain Allied troops on Christmas on Guadalcanal. Solomon Islands, 1960.

Ralph Morse—The LIFE Premium Collection/Getty Images

Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME

15. Santa Claus parachuting into Carol City Shopping Center. Florida, 1962.

Lynn Pelham—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images

Photo colorization by Sanna Dullaway for TIME