Christmas Gems

According to Britannica Online, though wood engravers produced prints with religious themes in the European Middle Ages, the first Christmas card, as the term is now understood, is believed to have been designed by John Callcott Horsley in England in 1843, created for his friend Sir Henry Cole. An edition of 1,000 Christmas cards was placed on sale in London. It was lithographed on stiff cardboard, 5 1/8 by 3 1/4 inches, in dark sepia and hand-colored. The center of the Christmas card shows a family party in progress, beneath which were the words "A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You." To one side is a scene of the hungry being fed and to the other side the poor being clothed. In the United States, the owner of a variety store in Albany, N.Y., in the mid-19th century produced a Christmas card carrying Christmas greetings from "Pease's Great Variety Store in the Temple of Fancy."

Nowadays Christmas Cards are big business and millions are being sent each Christmas in the UK alone.  They range from the expensive and highly ornamental to the cheap large box collection.  There is a choice of sentimental, nostalgic, magical, comical and downright rude - something for everyone, so to speak.

The sending of cards has just become part of the ritual of Christmas and for many people is now a chore rather than a pleasure.  Here in the UK it is custom to send a Christmas card to everyone you know, that includes the boss, your colleagues at work, the postman, the window cleaner etc.  Shops and traders give Christmas cards to their regular customers and businesses send Christmas cards to other businesses.

Christmas cards are also a major source of income for many charities as lots of people will only buy Christmas cards that make a donation to either one particular or multiple charities.  That way you can kill two birds with one stone and also feel less guilty when calculating how many trees were felled in order to produce the millions of Christmas cards sent every year.