Eli E. Schock lived in Plymouth, a city in southeast Michigan.

Today, Plymouth is a western suburb of Detroit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth,_Michigan

In December of 1910, Eli received a Christmas postcard from Hiram.

Hiram posted the greeting from Jesup, a small city in northeast Iowa.

Jesup, named for the President of the Dubuque & Sioux City Railroad, grew up as a railroad town.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesup,_Iowa

The face of the postcard is a vibrant drawing of two golden bells amid sprigs of pine and holly.

A silver gilt background, and delicate embossing, incorporates the best features of the “Golden Age of Postcards”.

Beneath the bells is a printed legend, “A Merry Christmas to You”.

The postcard was printed in Germany.

On the reverse, Hiram asks if Eli received a “Waterloo Iowa Daily” that Hiram sent last week.

Waterloo, Iowa is a city on the Cedar River – about 15 miles west of Jesup.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterloo,_Iowa

It may be that Eli had ties to Waterloo.

Hiram reports that “it snowed part of the time today”.

Unfortunately, the snowfall was “not enough for sleighing”.

“Except for colds”, all those around Hiram are well.

We learn that Minnie is going to Illinois for an extended visit next week; we do not know if this was the wife, daughter,  or girlfriend of Hiram.

Hiram promises to “write you a letter”.

One hopes that Eli received a copy of the Iowa newspaper, that all continued in good health,  that the celebration of Christmas was splendid, that Minnie had a safe and satisfactory trip at the New Year, and that Hiram completed a letter to maintain the friendly correspondence with Eli.