The very first Christmas card. Source: Wikimedia Commons

This is last in a series of 12 posts on historical Christmas traditions. The source is the Time magazine article linked below.

The Victoria Era saw many inventions, but for Christmas traditions, one of the most impactful was likely the Penny Post, which allowed people in England to send correspondence anywhere in the country for only a penny. This led to an influx of letter writing, and since social mores dictated that all mail must be answered, letter writing took up an increasing amount of time. Faced with a mountain of correspondence, a man named Henry Cole had an artist friend design a picture that could be printed on cardboard, quickly personalized, and sent through the mail. Within a few years, others were copying his idea, and by 1875, Christmas cards were being created in America as well. Check out this Time magazine article for more.

Do you still send Christmas cards? What’s the most memorable one you ever received?

I have to admit I don’t, not for years now. I do display a few cards each year. My favorite is one my parents gave me when I was maybe 10 that was “from” our dachshund, Gretchen. It has a picture if a dachshund in a Santa hat on the front and says “Merry Christmas from one of Santa’s little yelpers” on the inside. My dad put her paw print on it and signed her name.

This is my last post before Christmas, so Merry whatever you celebrate and if I don’t blog before then, Happy New Year, too!