My husband and I were recently talking about our favorite holiday traditions and I mentioned helping my Mom with our Christmas cards -- picking out the design, writing the holiday letter, addressing (in gold fine tip marker, of course!)
As a first time homeowner and a newlywed, I was excited to order our very own this year
(here's the winner -- love that it's a postcard!)
Our discussion got us wondering how some of these traditions got started. If you're as curious as us, here's a brief history behind the Holiday card…
The world’s first known Christmas card appeared in London in 1843, when Sir Henry Cole hired painter and illustrator John Calcott Horsley to design a holiday card to send to his friends and acquaintances. This first Christmas card garnered little enthusiasm among the English.
Lithographer Louis Prang, a Prussian immigrant who started a small printing business near Boston in the late 1850s, is generally considered the father of the American Christmas Card. Prang published his first Christmas card for his American customers in 1875, a simple flower design with the words, “Merry Christmas.”
By the 1950s, Christmas cards had turned “modern,” reflecting America’s postwar interest in abstract art, the beat generation, cars, and the new medium of television. For the first time, humorous holiday cards took a measurable foothold in the United States.
With the onset of the 21st century, holiday cardsending has become more sophisticated, while the expressed sentiments have become more heartfelt, offering wishes for peace, harmony and joy throughout the season and the upcoming year (source)
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