Granny’s Christmas cards
Do you send Christmas cards? I always want to, but never get it done. There were a few years when I was first married that I accomplished it, but not in many years.
Granny always hangs her cards around the living room. Sometimes she tapes them to the archway between the kitchen and living room. One year (in the photo above) she crocheted a rope and hung the cards on it.
According to the Why Christmas website Sir Henry Cole started the tradition of sending Christmas Cards in 1843. Cole, who lived in the United Kingdom, was an employee of the new post office system. Cole wanted everyday people to be able to use the postal system just like the more well to do folks and government officials used it. Cole thought Christmas cards would be the perfect way for every day folks to use the postal system.
One of Cole’s friends, John Horsley, was an artist. Horsely designed the first Christmas Card and the two of them sold it for 1 shilling, which was quite a bit of money in those days.
By the 1870s cards and postage had dropped in price making it easier for more folks to send Christmas cards. The website had this to say about Christmas Cards in the United States:
Christmas Cards appeared in the United States of America in the late 1840s, but were very expensive and most people couldn’t afford them. It 1875, Louis Prang, a printer who was originally from German but who had also worked on early cards in the UK, started mass producing cards so more people could afford to buy them. Mr Prang’s first cards featured flowers, plants, and children. In 1915, John C. Hall and two of his brothers created Hallmark Cards, who are still one of the biggest card makers today!
In the 1910s and 1920s, home made cards became popular. They were often unusual shapes and had things such as foil and ribbon on them. These were usually too delicate to send through the post and were given by hand.
I set the cards I receive on the buffet in the kitchen so I can see them easily.
I asked folks about sending Christmas cards over on the Blind Pig and The Acorn Facebook page. Most folks were like me, they really want to send them, but somehow never get them sent.
Tipper
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Absolutely love to receive cards, and I send about 25 by mail and about the same number via email each Christmas. I consider it a nicety for fond friends and family, especially those across the miles and doubly so for those who are elderly. I also save all cards received until the following year, when I cut them into triangle shapes to make a holiday banner.
I have always hung my cards on the back of the front door with tape..each year i get fewer and fewer cards..i still send them out though as I know to a lot of folks they love getting anything to remind them they are being thought of during the holidays…if nothing else i want those who are far away, are older, are alone, etc to know SOMEONE thought enough to spend 55 cents and the cost of a card to send it to them..i’m late getting anything done this year, but i’ve been working on my cards today…
I always give Christmas cards to everyone at church. I dont send many through mail. My family, I just hand give. I to hang mine across the archway between my living room and dining room. Their pretty to look at.
We send a few to friends far away. Many years ago when there was a spike in postage rates we cut way back. We started a ‘post office’ at church and gave the money we saved on postage to the mission offering. At 55 cents each and the cost of the cards one could spend a small fortune.
I love sending Christmas cards, and always have. Following in my parents’ tradition, I include a letter. The name list dwindles a bit, but I still send out about 100 or so. I figure it’s an inexpensive Christmas gift. I do love to receive them also!
Tipper,
I use to send lots of Christmas Cards, not anymore. I still get a few from Banks and other entities, but that’s because they feel they have to. Christmastime is so commercialized today, not like it use to be and I don’t like it. Still, I appreciate and love Christmas Cards that are from the Heart.
Mama use to scrape up money and send lots of Christmas Cards when I was little. She’d start as soon as Thanksgiving was over and what a Joy it was for us boys to come in from School and see the Christmas Cards all Thumbolted to the door facing with Thumb tacks. …Ken
We do send Christmas cards. We used to send lots of them, but now we’ve narrowed it down to family and close friends. This year we had special ones made with a photo taken at the Husky Homestead (Jeff King’s Iditarod Kennel) in Alaska. We were holding two of the most adorable puppies who are destined to compete in the Iditarod in coming years.
I send cards, mainly to friends I don’t see very often and out-of-town friends and relatives. Daddy used to string them around the doorway like that. I’m writing my cards this morning.
I’ve never sent a Christmas card that I can remember. My Wife sends out a few each year but hasn’t sent any yet. She told me the stores she has checked only had politically correct cards with titles like happy holidays and such. Her next stop is where they sell Hallmark Christmas cards.
I send Christmas cards, but the list gets shorter every year. I guess it’s just easier for folks to pick up the phone and text Merry Christmas or send out a greeting on the internet. My older relatives look forward to checking their mail to see who thought about them during the holidays. I will continue the tradition as long as I am physically and mentally able.
My wife sends cards for every occasion to her sisters and a few to older relatives. My mother saved all cards that she received in a desk drawer. My wife now has them and has framed a number of them.
Another tradition almost gone.
Not only do I send Christmas cards, I hand make all of my cards. I actually finished them yesterday.I also love receiving Christmas cards!
Our non-writing (digital) society works against Christmas cards. Like most folks I guess our list is short and many of them are not mailed. Our extended family has only a few members who send cards.
I always want to make cards, emails and letters as personal as I can and as truthful. That can be a difficult exercise thus time consuming. I disliked letting others speak for me so I don’t like reliance on ‘canned’ sentiments.
Sadly, no, I don’t send Christmas cards any more. I used to but somehow it just slipped away.
I think our ability to have instant connection all over the world through email and cell phones has made Christmas cards obsolete.
I have started sending e-cards to my e-mail list and do manage to send a few cards to old friends who I want to write a personal message to. Love getting cards from old friends and relatives that I don’t get to see or talk to all year.
I still send cards and really like getting them, but the number we receive dwindles every year. When I was a child, we got lots and Mother displayed them on the doorways. Jave a blessed and Merry Christmas.
I send cards, I take a few minutes to write them during down times leading up to Thsnksgiving mail them the day sfter on my way yo do my firet Christmss shopping then no stress. I remember my Daddy hanging cards just the way it is in the photo. Serms like they had hundreds. My list is down to a very few now sadly