It was a London, England, merchant by the name of Sir Henry Cole who is said to have produced the first commercial Christmas card. It was not well received. In fact, it triggered a storm of protest. Like many others before him, he wrote out long letters of greetings to friends at Christmas. This was the custom of the time. He hired an artist by the name of John Horsley, according to the book A Treasury Of Christmas Stories by Webb Garrison, published in 1990 by Rutledge Hill Press. The artist quoted Cole as saying, “It would save me a great deal of time, and I believe the recipients would be surprised and delighted.” So the artist set to work to create a design that Sir Henry would approve of. According to Webb Garrison this is the design he came up with. “On the card, vine-wrapped boughs formed side-by-side frames for three Christmas scenes. The center section depicted three generations of a family celebrating the holiday with glasses in hand. Each card was individually hand-colored. Sir Henry mailed about 300 to friends, and put another 300 up for sale at a shop he owned.
“But followers of the anti-liquor movement were offended by the drinking scene.
“They denounced the card as ‘deliberately conceived to foster and promote the consumption of alcohol during the holiday season.’
“Sir Henry Cole sold a mere handful of the cards.
“In 1848, a London entrepreneur named W. M. Egley tried marketing a second Christmas card similar in design to Sir Henry’s, but it, too, failed to sell.
“Then during the 1860s color reproductions of holiday paintings were reproduced on cards, and they caught on.” This excerpt from the book appeared in the December 18th, 1990 edition of the Enquirer.
As it said in another issue of the Enquirer some years back, “A dollar went a long, long way back in Christmas 1886–when a tree cost just 25 cents, cards went for 3 cents each and plums for a plum pudding sold for only 15 cents.” Christmas cards today are big business and so are e-cards. According to The American Greeting Card Association, 500 million online greetings were sent all over the world this year alone. Compared with figures from 2006, the largest e-card publisher, American Greetings, registered a increase of 23% this year over last. These figures were recently published in the Globe and Mail’s Social Studies column [Friday December 14th, 2007]. Along with the legitimate electronic greetings come others that may hide a virus or spy-ware, so let the e-card receiver beware. As it said in the newspaper column, the most prolific virus was the “I Love You” virus. People may be fooled by the simple greeting “Merry Christmas” to open something they shouldn’t. I can assure you this is a “safe” blog to read…
Lovers and Other Strangers began on CHFI in January of 1990. The initial response to the show was immediate and tremendous. Listeners began to send me letters asking for copies of the scripts I produced for each night’s show. They also sent letters asking for book information. You have to remember this was all really before personal computers and e-mail became popular. I spent hours every day sifting through the mail and sending out responses. When Christmas 1990 began to get close, I suggested to my wife that I’d like to send every listener, who mailed me, a Christmas card signed by me with a short note of thanks for his/her support of the show. So in the weeks leading up to Christmas that year we purchased almost a hundred cards and I began to sign my name. My wife helped me address them and the station helped out by mailing them for me.
Every year, more and more addresses were added to our list. My mother even offered to help print the envelopes. We spent days leading up to Christmas preparing bundles of individually signed Christmas and holiday cards.
In later years, we had special Christmas stationery prepared with a greeting from me and a few chosen lines from some of my favorite Christmas writings. Very good friends who are printers by trade helped me to fashion these heartfelt letters.
The problem was the fact that people moved and never bothered to send me a change of address. We began to get back bundles of cards and letters. With the increasing costs of postage and the number of returns, we had to stop this Christmas ritual that meant so much to me. Now you know the reason why you haven’t received a card or letter from me over a few years now.
This blog gives me the unique opportunity to begin a new Christmas card tradition, one that I hope to expand on every year starting right now. Today I wanted to take a few moments to thank you for your continued support of my radio program and this new blog. I realize that this may not be as personal as opening up a card or letter from me in your regular mail, but I hope you know that the original intent to thank my wonderful loyal listeners is still uppermost in my mind at this very special time of the year. I said in a few Christmas letters that at our Christmas table I always take a few moments to raise a toast to all those who have supported the show over the past year. Even though the cards had to stop, I still took a few moments before our family dinner to offer a “thank you” for your helping to make our Christmas a joyous, memorable occasion. You gave me reason to celebrate on many, many occasions. This year your support has given me reason to celebrate again..
“Never a Christmas morning, / Never the old year ends / But someone thinks of someone– / Old days, old times, old friends.” An excerpt from a Christmas card sent to the author one year, and featured in the 1998 edition of The Friendship Book of Francis Gay, published by D. C. Thomson and Company.
I still receive cards with heartfelt best wishes from listeners and clients who received my greetings over the years. If you have recently sent me one, I just wanted you to know that both my wife and I appreciate you remembering us on your Christmas card list. With our communications over the years, it feels like we’re hearing from special friends when we open the cards and see familiar names.
In conclusion, I wanted to leave you with this. A listener sent me this poem some years back. It was written by Helen Steiner Rice, and appeared in the book, Christmas Blessings. You should still be able to order this book. The sentiments in this poem are near and dear to my heart. They have always mirrored mine.
“I have a list of folks I know, all written in a book, / And every year at Christmas time, I go and take a look, / And that is when I realize that these names are a part, / –Not of the book they’re written in–but my very heart.
“For each name stands for someone who has crossed my path sometime, / And in that meaning they’ve become the rhythm in each rhyme. / And while it sounds fantastic for me to make this claim, / I really feel that I’m composed of each remembered name.
“And while you may not be aware of any ’special link’, / Just meeting you has shaped my life more than you can think. / For once I’ve met somebody, the years cannot erase / The memory of a pleasant word, or of a friendly face.
“So never think my Christmas cards are just a mere routine / Of names upon a Christmas list forgotten in between, / For when I send a Christmas card that is addressed to you, / It’s because you’re on that list of folks I’m so indebted to.
“For I am but a total of the many folks I’ve met / And you happen to be one of those I prefer never to forget. / And whether I have known you for many years or few, / In some way you have had a part of shaping things I do.
“And every year when Christmas comes, I realize anew / The best gift life can give is meeting folks like you. / And may the spirit of Christmas that forever endures, / Leave its richest blessing in the hearts of you and yours.” The word of Helen Steiner Rice from the compilation Christmas Blessings, sent via e-mail by a listener. I trust the punctuation and sentence structure is correct.
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