Christmas Cards

For the past week, your mailbox has probably started to fill up with lovely Christmas cards. People have been sending Christmas cards to each other for many years. These Christmas cards — at the time called Christmas Greetings — first appeared in the United States in 1840. This was very expensive though, so most could not afford to send them. It was not until later when they became mass-produced that they became affordable. In 1915 John C. Hall and two of his brothers created the extremely well-known Hallmark Cards. I bet even some of your Christmas cards you receive this year are Hallmark cards. Another type of card received is one with photos on them. These became popular in 1910’s and 1920’s. Today some people even send letters along with a card informing others about the year they had.

The type of Christmas cards you receive in the mail varies. Some contain family photos, some contain animals and pets, some even contain letters. I remember all the past years standing in front of a camera getting my picture taken for our annual family Christmas card. One of my favorite Christmas cards we ever had was when we got a new manure spreader and we took it by that and the card said, “Spreading Christmas Cheer!” Another one of my favorite cards is from the year my little brother was born. He was born 2 months early so he was pretty small! We gift-wrapped him in a small box as my older brothers and I held it, poor Luke looked like a Jack in the box with a holiday bow, while the card read, “Our little package was delivered early this year!”

With or without silly manure spreader pictures or funny sayings, Christmas cards are a fun way to spread Christmas cheer to all of your family, friends, and neighbors. This year has been so weird, maybe you haven’t seen some people in a while, so send a card. I know the process of sending a Christmas card is no fun because it involves licking the stamps and envelopes which leaves a terrible taste on your tongue after sealing a number of them. However, in the long run, everyone loves to get fun mail other than bills. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and receive many memorable Christmas cards this season.




- Kesley Holdgrafer