CHRISTMAS CARDS
The Custom of Christmas Cards
by Rebecca Ortinau
We all know what it's like to be busy during the holidays----zipping from store to store, wrapping gifts, baking cookies, throwing parties. It was exactly this predicament that led to the creation of the first commercially printed Christmas Card nearly 160 years ago.
Sending loved ones handwritten messages at Christmas began a a tradition back in the early 1800's when delivering letters via post was a new-and-exciting thing to do. It became such a popular trend that by 1822 the Superintendent of Mails in Washington, DC petitioned Congress to limit future card exchanging after sixteen additional postal workers had to be hired to keep up with deliveries!
Imagine then, what happened in 1843 when Sir Henry Cole, a wealthy British businessman, came up with the idea of creating one card that could be signed and sent easily to everyone a person wished to contact at Christmas.
Instead of hand-writing greetings to all his friends and family, Cole commissioned artist John Calcott Horsley to create a special holiday card for him. He had 1,000 copies printed, then mailed them out. It wasn't long before similar cards were created all over England.
Thirty years later, German immigrant Louis Prang brought the idea to the United Stated. Today nearly two billion Christmas Cards are mailed in the U.S. each year, with the average American family both sending and receiving about 28 cards.
For more information on Sir Henry Cole and the first Christmas card, order
Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things
by Charles Panati at www.harpercollins.com. For more information on holidays and greeting cards, visit www.hallmark.com
by Charles Panati at www.harpercollins.com. For more information on holidays and greeting cards, visit www.hallmark.com
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