I just sent out my annual Christmas letter by paper Christmas card via snail mail. Looking at that sentence, I'm struck by the archaic nature of it. I actually have some young friends who are in their upper 20's or just turned 30, and I can guarantee not a single one of them sent out a Christmas card. Furthermore, not a single one of them even THOUGHT about sending one much less a Christmas letter. It is well known I'm obsessed with snail mail. (I just finished writing letters to eleven people this week!) However, I've just realized the number of people who do not have email addresses I send Christmas cards, has dwindled to ZERO. Just a few years ago there were still a few people without email addresses.
According to Smithsonian Magazine, you're looking at the first commercial Christmas card. It was commissioned by Henry Cole, a very busy aristocratic Londoner, who watched his correspondence explode thanks to the 'penny post' - a Victorian innovation which allowed anyone to send a letter to anyone else for a penny. It was the equivalent of the email explosion we've all experienced. He had an artist friend draw up this image, and then he had 1000 of these printed in 1843 on 5" x 3" card stock. These allowed him to fulfill his obligation of replying to his holiday letters. It was considered impolite to not answer correspondence. Notice the "To: and the "From"? This innovation allowed him to quickly answer all his correspondence during the holiday season. His idea caught on and spread across the Western world. The first American Christmas card was printed in 1875.
The company who came to epitomize the greeting card, including Christmas cards, was founded in 1915 by the Hall brothers in Kansas City, Kansas. I'll bet you can figure out what this company morphed into....right? "The Hallmark Company". Hallmark has been printing Christmas cards since it was founded. Of their many innovations, they pioneered the 4"x6" folded card which quickly replaced postcards since people wanted to write a little something more than would fit on a postcard. The folded card is now the industry standard. People also began collecting Christmas cards - big surprise - people will collect anything.
During the 20th century, Christmas cards were so popular famous artists tried their hand at Christmas card design including Norman Rockwell (wildly popular), Alexander Calder (less popular), and Salvador Dali (complete failure with his designs pulled from the shelves). There have been all types of designs of Christmas cards. Surprisingly, early American cards did not have religious themes, but rather floral or plant themes. Currently, polar bears are a big image for cards. Hallmark still uses the most popular Christmas card design ever from 1977- over 34 million sold - which is three cherubic angels. Last year Americans bought 1.6 BILLION Christmas cards. I guess I'm in good company.
During the last fifty years of the 20th century, it was important to send Christmas cards WITH LETTERS enclosed to out of town recipients since most people had a class of friends who had 'moved away'. People leaving their home towns was one of the outgrowths of WWII. Usually, the only way to stay in touch was through the annual Christmas card. People certainly didn't telephone 'long distance' since it was extremely expensive until the Ma Bell monopoly was broken up. People faithfully promised weekly or monthly correspondence to friends who were moving away, but this quickly dwindled to the letter inside the annual Christmas card. I actually handwrote my letters onto my Christmas cards until I got a computer with a printer.
At that point, my Christmas card list just exploded. At my high point, I was sending out over 100 cards each season. Now, I'm considering this year may be my last year of paper cards with accompanying paper letter. I already send out ecards using my fave card site, Jacquie Lawson. Several of my friends have adopted using this site since it's a nobrainer if you like to stay in touch with people. And, aren't we all far flung these days? Currently, I'm sending regular snail mail to Mustang, Ok; Tulsa, Ok; Acton, Tx, Hurst, Tx; North Richland Hills, Tx; Arlington, Tx; Alpine, Tx; New Braunfels, Tx; Houston, Tx; Albuquerque, NM; and Oakland, Ca. Do I really need to send Christmas letters and Christmas cards?
I think I'm just blowing smoke, though. I'm one of those suckers who has collected greeting cards from every holiday and birthday sent to me by Drake over the past fifty years. One of our family traditions is "Best Card". We give beautiful cards to one another, and then we vote on who has chosen the best looking card. It's silly, but we think it's fun. I keep threatening to turn my box of collected cards into a collage. One of these days.....
Meanwhile, Merry Christmas. If you didn't get a snail mail Christmas card and letter; well, I guarantee you will get the ecard version. I wonder how much of my letter I can ecard? Oh, and KUDOS to my friends who have sent me Christmas letters inside cards - especially the ones with family pictures embedded.
