Christmas cards are wonderful greeting cards that people use to wish friends, family, business associates, and even acquaintances Happy Holidays, a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Christmas cards have a special way of putting a smile on someone’s face when they open them. Many people save their Christmas cards from year to year and look at them often.
The history and tradition of Christmas cards…
Christmas cards originated from an idea that Sir Henry Cole had in the early to mid 1800s. He was the founder and director of the South Kensington Museum (now known as the Victoria and Albert Museum) in London, England.
Sir Henry was in the habit of hand writing a Christmas letter to friends, family and acquaintances to wish them holiday greetings. His desire that prompted the development of Christmas cards was to send a large number of Christmas letters and he was simply too busy to hand write so many.
So, to solve Sir Henry’s problem, he called upon John Calcott Horsley and asked him to design some Christmas cards to be printed with his Christmas greeting on them.
Thus, the first Christmas cards were printed with a Merry Christmas/Happy New Year greeting and were then colored by hand. Almost immediately the tradition of sending Christmas cards began and become widespread.
In addition to sending Christmas cards, other English Christmas traditions include Christmas caroling on Christmas Eve, hanging of Christmas stockings for Santa to fill, attending church services and exchanging Christmas gifts.
Fun Fact: England, the birthplace of Christmas cards, is the largest country in the United Kingdom. It is a constitutional monarchy meaning that the country has a royal family and is governed in accordance with a constitution. Because England occupies much of the island of Great Britain, the English are often referred to as the British.
A traditional Christmas dinner in England consists of roasted goose, turkey or chicken, stuffing and roasted potatoes. For dessert, Christmas pudding or mince meat pies and marzipan Christmas cake are English favorites. The Queen of England always delivers a Christmas message which most families in England make an effort to hear on the Christmas night.
Since the first colonists in the United States came from England, many Christmas traditions from England have made their way to America. Louis Prang, a German immigrant in America, started the first company in the United States to commercially produce Christmas cards.
