It is that time of year again that we pack up the fall displays and pull out the Christmas decorations. Everything from manger scenes to angels to Christmas trees and snowmen are dusted off and arranged in the yard, front porch and living room. That one month out of the year Christmas captures the spirit of chaos and inserts laughter, giving, and cheer. And in all of the preparation the celebrated Christmas card is one of the first items to be decided upon reaching out to loved ones near and far.
Many years ago shoppers would purchase a box of festive cards to mail out to those living away. A quick note was written inside. And then the invention of photo shop hit the market. It was not long before we could snap a shot with our phone and download it to a neighborhood pharmacy or store with a photo section and voila! A card of smiling faces was heading out to nearby towns and states.
This weekend as Clay and I dragged out the first of our Christmas decorations the discussion of a Christmas card was inevitable. And with our family so spread out and busy with babies, graduate school, marriage, work, and building houses, pulling off the task was looking grim. As I unwound lights I got to wondering how this Christmas card tradition ever came to be. With a little looking into it, I found an article in the Smithsonian that explained it all:
"A prominent educator and patron of the arts, Henry Cole travelled in the elite, social circles of early Victorian England, and had the misfortune of having too many friends. During the holiday season of 1843, those friends were causing Cole much anxiety. The problem were their letters: An old custom in England, the Christmas and New Year's letter had received a new impetus with the recent expansion of the British postal system and the introduction of the "Penny Post," allowing the sender to send a letter or card anywhere in the country by affixing a penny stamp to the correspondence.
Now, everybody was sending letters. Sir Cole-best remembered today as the founder of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London-was an enthusiastic supporter of the new postal system, and he enjoyed being the 1840s equivalent of an A-Lister, but he was a busy man. As he watched the stacks of unanswered correspondence he fretted over what to do. "In Victorian England, it was considered impolite not to answer mail," says Ace Collins, author of Stories Behind the Great Traditions of Christmas. "He had to figure out a way to respond to all of these people."
Cole hit on an ingenious idea. He approached an artist friend, J.C. Horsley, and asked him to design an idea that Cole had sketched out in his mind. Cole then took Horsley's illustration --- a triptych showing a family at table celebrating the holiday flanked by images of people helping the poor-and had a thousand copies made by a London printer. The image was printed on a piece of stiff cardboard 5 1/8 x 3 1/4 inches in size. At the top of each was the salutation, "TO:_____" allowing Cole to personalize his responses, which included the generic greeting "A Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year To You."
It was the first Christmas card. As always necessity is the mother of invention and poor guy to have so many friends he was sent in search of a local artist. It is a good thing that the did because it sounds like this man's life is very similar to the average family today. But never fear, what Mr. Cole did not have in his pocket was a cell phone with social media. Cheers to Holiday Traditions!
