Do you send Christmas cards to all your friends and family? I used to, but with the cost of postage and the introduction of cheaper ways of sending greetings, I now don't send nearly so many as I did. What a pity the Post Office can't reduce the cost of postage for the Christmas period! However, I love getting them and I love the pictures on them and the way that they brighten the room in this dark time of the year.
Today I was busy putting up the cards in the living room. This year I chose to hang them on a ribbon opposite the front door. I am pleased with the result.
In England, I don't know about here, the card hangers are very popular and have taken on a life of their own.
Here are two of the ones I use when I'm over there.
The first one is a red pillar box design:
and the second one is just decorative with Christmassy scenes on it.
'It was during the late 19th century that Christmas cards came into their own. Previously, people had exchanged Christmas greetings by letter and school-children often prepared Christmas pieces for their parents or grandparents, a kind of sampler for their best handwriting on special paper with a printed border.
The Valentine card had been around for some time, so it is quite surprising that it took the Christmas card took so long to get off the ground. It is generally thought that the person responsible for the first Christmas card was Henry Cole, director of the newly founded Victoria and Albert Museum. In 1843 he commissioned H.C. Horsley, R.A. to produce a suitable design. It depicted, in its central panel, a jolly family sitting down to their Christmas dinner and raising their glasses in a toast, while two smaller side panels portrayed acts of seasonal charity, feeding the hungry and clothing the naked. In 1846 1,000 copies of this design were printed and sold for a shilling a copy.'
from Hamlyn's Complete Christmas Book
So are your Christmas cards in the post? or already hung beneath a picture over the mantleshelf. What is your ritual for this lovely custom?
5 comments:
I try and send Christmas cards out, especially to those overseas and folks we haven't seen during the year.
I love those Christmas card hangers, so organised, and neat. Our's sit in a basket, some on the mantle.
Your little Dillon is the MOST precious little boy, he has the sweetest face, I can only imagine how hard it is not being there with him, especially throughout Christmas.
Can't wait for the elf-costume picture :)
Sending you both (and Milly) wishes for a blessed and joyous Christmas, and a Happy New Year !
~Jo
Sorry, that should be Dylan !
~Jo
I have sent out exactly three cards, and there are the people who live in my apartment who will receive them in their mailboxes without having to fly anywhere except from my door to their mailbox. The ones I've received are sitting on a table, nicely arranged to see them. We don't get or send many, Star. Yours are so lovely to see! :-)
I have never sent out Christmas cards, mostly because I'm a procrastinator. Even with the best of intentions it just doesn't happen. One year my sister and I sent out Halloween cards, though.
I love receiving them and put them out on the counter. Growing up we would put them on the mantle, rotating them out since we received so many. I guess Christmas cards are one of the many things that have fallen by the wayside with all the new technology.
Dylan is so big! He looks adorable. He looks like a little boy now, not a baby.
Love the pictures of your adorable grandson! I have to admit to sending fewer and fewer cards each year. I now send to those that send to me (kind of selfish, I know), and those are getting fewer and fewer. It seems the tradition is losing ground for many of us. Mine are currently in their box on the counter. I will do them on Friday - late, as usual.
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