Christmas Countdown

 CHRISTMAS WISH

Send a surprise Christmas card to someone who isn't on your usual list

I don't think people send Christmas cards the way they once did. There are lots of reasons, I am sure. Probably the cost of postage and the cost of the cards is a factor. And the fact that it is so much easier to send greetings by email or text. It is a disappointment not to get cards by mail though. I always look forward to it. I think a lot more people send out family photos cards. Since I am always forgetting to take pictures, that doesn't happen here.

Last year I did send a lot of cards because we had just moved, and only a few people knew our new address. I hope to hear from them this year. I haven't bought any cards yet, but have a few I haven't used before. When I've shopped in  England, I always try to buy cards from the charity shops we love. They always have a large number of cards sponsored by the various charities. I've noticed I am drawn to the houses with villages, and with birds. The card above is from the British Red Cross. It is lovely with lots of gilding. I also have a few that I have been hoarding that picture a peaceful English country church. Of course, it has a graveyard, as most English churches do. It just seemed so unusual to me as a card to send to American friends. I worked at a funeral home at the time, so it was very normal for me to buy. But it's not every ones' cup of tea.

I try to send cards most years. Sometimes they are a little late. One year I deliberately bought New Year's cards and got them out on time. 

One of the few disagreements I had with my first husband was over our first Christmas cards when we were newly married. I had signed and stamped our cards and was ready to mail them. He thought I should be sending cards to everyone we knew and include a Christmas letter. I said I wasn't mailing cards to all our neighbors and had never even heard of a Christmas letter.  I ended up burning all the cards in our backyard burning barrel. I don't think he ever knew, and he really didn't take any interest in who we sent cards to after that. I think it was probably pregnancy hormones.

I did resist sending Christmas letters for several years, but I have often sent an original Christmas poem. I think they are usually pretty good, both informative and funny. The Christmas after my husband died in 2011, I sent a very sad poem. It was still a little bit funny, but several people left tearful messages on my answering machine. I lightened up a little after that. No poem this year, but I am hoping to get cards out in a timely manner.

The earliest Christmas cards were postcards. They were first sent by Henry Cole in 1843. He was very popular and very busy and just couldn't find the time to keep up with his holiday correspondence. Just like me, he didn't want to have to write a Christmas letter, which was the polite thing to do. He gave an idea to a friend, Mr J.C. Horseley and hired him to design a card. It had a happy family scene with a Christmas greeting and could be personalized with lines for To: and From: at the top and bottom. There were also pictures on the sides of charitable good works.

It wasn't until 1875 that the first Christmas card appeared in the United States. It was very simple with just a flower and the words "Merry Christmas" on the front. In 1915 the Hall family in Kansas City created the cards that opened up and required an envelope. This gave people more room to write their messages. They founded the Hallmark company. The most popular card for them was in 1977 and was three little praying angels. They still make that one today!

More joys for your Christmas than words can convey

And then a lot more for New Years Day