Leafing through the never ending deliveries of junk mail and bills that inhabit your mailbox you see just peaking over the edges just a slight bit of color. Could it be? Your eyes widen and your heart feels just a little bit lighter in your chest. You pull it out and open it up. Yes it is!! It is a card to wish you the happiest of holidays from someone thinking of you. Sending and receiving greeting cards has become such a big part of the holiday season that some people have come to expect at least one in their mail. This tradition is also a stress free way to spread a little extra bit of spirit and to include the loved ones that are unable to participate in the celebrations.
A long time ago people would make their own greetings and hand deliver these small tokens of Christmas cheer. It would seem that only wealthy families could afford to send mail through the post until the ‘Penny Post’ program was installed at the Post Office in 1840. This opened up the luxury using the post to the working class as it only cost a penny to send a letter and half a penny to mail a post card. The idea of sending Christmas cards through the post office was started in 1843 by a British businessman Sir Henry Cole and John Calcott Horsely. Mr. Horsely was an artist and created a card that pictured people participating in acts of charity and families enjoying food and drink. The caption inside the card read “A very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to You.” Sir Henry had asked John Horsely to print enough to send to his family and friends but after viewing these creations they decided to print 1000 of these greetings and sold them at 1 schilling each.
As printing methods improved so did the popularity of sending Christmas cards. Traditional cards pictured religious scenes or a winter setting. In Victorian times cards pictured robins in snowy settings and sometimes holding mail representing the postman because their uniforms were red in color and referred to as ‘robins’. The present day Holiday cards have religious pictures, winter scenes, jokes, and mythical creatures. Most are sent in the tradition fashion of the post office but many greetings are being sent through email with the emergence of the computer age.
