It's Holiday and Christmas time!

Wish your friends a happy holiday and Merry Christmas!  Now, there's plenty of information about Christmas traditions and symbols especially for you!  Christmas colors are red and green. Today, traditional Christmas activities include caroling, making and giving gifts, sending cards to family and friends, and enjoying festive dinners and parties. Origins of Christmas From the Old English 'Cristes Mæsse' ~ meaning the 'mass of Christ' ~ the story of Christmas begins with the birth of a babe in Bethlehem. It is believed that Christ was born on the 25th, although the exact month is unknown. December was likely chosen so the Catholic Church could compete with rival pagan rituals held at that time of year and because of its closeness with the winter solstice in the Northern hemisphere, a traditional time of celebration among many ancient cultures. source: http://www.allthingschristmas.com/

Christmas cards                                                 The first known Christmas card is printed on the front cover with a date of 1843.  The original was in muted colours, hand painted, printed and sold for 1/- each (5p) - a lot of money in those days.  Despite the date on this card, encyclopaedias say that Christmas cards were first sold in 1846! By the 1860s the idea of sending cards had caught on as they were able to be produced much more cheaply with the invention of less expensive colour printing.  The first Christmas cards had lace and flowery borders, but then they changed to more familiar designs.  The robin became very popular as were Victorian snow scenes, religious pictures, holly, Christmas trees etc.  Many similar scenes are reproduced in our cards today.

The card reproduced above was printed as a postcard and sent in 1905 with a ½d stamp. That's all for now, folks! See you next time!