What is the deal with holiday cards anyway? Christmas cards as we know them today are about 175 years old. Sir Henry Cole in England thought the idea up to stimulate the postal business. He was quite successful, in that his idea increased postal volume in 1846 by 11.5 million pieces! It took awhile for the idea to catch on in America. “Louis Prang, a Prussian immigrant with a print shop near Boston, is credited with creating the first Christmas card originating in the United States in 1875. It was very different from Cole and Horsley’s of 30 years prior, in that it didn’t even contain a Christmas or holiday image.”
In the decades since that time, other holidays have been celebrated with cards, like Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and the Winter Solstice. But who has benefited from these cards? Clearly the Post Office and card companies. And sometimes very worthy causes like the Mouth and Foot Artists, who sell cards that they make holding a paint brush in their feet or their mouths! Or nonprofits that sell cards and use the proceeds to give back to their communities.
There is no doubt that some folks really love the tradition and love receiving as well as sending them. Many of my friends create their own cards, update their address lists, write notes or letters, and wait for their friends to respond in kind. But if you don’t respond in kind, what happens? Eventually, people drop you off their lists. Some feel offended and tell you so. Most probably just don’t say anything but wonder what is wrong with you or why they haven’t heard from you..
Email cards have become a lot more frequent in the past few years. Cards can be created or uploaded and attached to lengthy letters and sent to dozens if not hundreds of friends with relatively little effort. Are email cards considered a cheap and unworthy substitute for a paper card? I am not sure. I know I enjoy reading them, and in particular not having to throw them away guiltily. Even email cards are becoming less frequent, though, and I wonder what the long term effect will be of failing to communicate with friends and family this time of year. Will the lost tradition cause families to call each other more often? Find other ways to keep in touch? Or will friends and even family just drift apart and away?
What is your tradition about holiday cards?