24 Days of Martin – Day 07:  Christmas Cards

Martin was finished playing “army buddies” with the nutcrackers under the tree. He placed them back in their proper sentry posts and headed into the kitchen for a snack.   Mom was sitting at the table with boxes of Christmas cards, markers, crayons, and blank cards.

“Whatcha doing, Mom?”, asked Martin as he opened the refrigerator door.  He knew there was some leftover pizza from dinner last night and really wanted a slice.

“Christmas Cards.”, explained Mom.  “I need to get them to the post office tomorrow so the cards arrive before Christmas Day.”

“Don’t you just write and an address on the envelope, sign the inside, and mail them out?”, Martin asked while chewing on pizza.

Mom softly laughed, “No, it’s more than that.  I want people to know I care about them so I write little notes, draw small pictures, and doodle on the envelopes to make them more festive.”

“That sounds like fun!  I wanna make some for Otto and the rest of the gang. Can I?” Martin pleaded as he pushed away his empty plate.  “I can doodle and draw!  And I’m really good at drawing trees!”

“Of course you can!”, Mom giggles, “But go wash the pizza off your hands and don’t forget the cheese hanging off your face.”

Martin came back to the table with clean hands and no more cheese on his face.  “How do I start?” he said looking at Mom for an answer.

“Take this blank paper, and fold it in half.  Create the front of your card here.  Then write something on the inside.  I’ve got envelopes over there and we can address and stamp them later.”, Mom said as she pointed to the envelopes stacked in a chair on the other side of the table.

“Thanks!!  These are going to be the best Christmas cards Hank and Otto and Mags and everyone else ever got!”, Martin exclaimed.

As Martin picked up a pencil and started to trace the outline of a Christmas tree, Mom started to tell Martin the history of Christmas cards.

“The first Christmas Card as we know it was created for two reasons: 1 – advertising and 2 – laziness.”

“The first card was created for ‘a crummy commercial‘ just like the ‘Ovaltine ad in “A Christmas Story”‘, snorted Martin.

“You could say that.”, laughed Mom.  “Sir Henry Cole was an English Public Servant and Inventor.  It was 1843 and he was very busy with work.  He was tired and stressed and did not have time to write letters and cards to his family, friends, and work colleagues for Christmas.  So he called his friend John (John Callcott Horsley) who was an artist.  John specialized in historical paintings and agreed to design a card for Sir Henry.  John designed the front of the card with three images.  The left and right were smaller sized and showed charitable acts of giving food and clothing to the poor.  The center image was a large family celebrating: Three generations of Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and cousins enjoying food and wine.”

Mom placed the card she had just finished down and picked up a blank card and a red marker.  “The card said ‘A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You.’ Sir Henry and John had two batches of the cards printed and sold them for one shilling each.”

“That’s neat!”, said Martin.  “And not Germany this time!” he chuckled.

“Well, not so fast.”, grinned Mom.  In 1870, Louis Prang, a German immigrant in Boston, created a press to make lithographs, which he used to mass produce greeting cards for Britain.  In 1874 Prang started selling Christmas Cards in America.  Louis Prang is now known as ‘The Father of the American Christmas Card’.  So Germany is part of this tradition too.”  Mom was laughing as she finished her story.

“I knew Germany had to be in this story somewhere.”, Martin muttered as he shook his head.

“Mom, how does this look?”, Martin wondered as he showed her his finished card.

“That is very festive and the tree is so pretty with decorations!”, Mom said approvingly.  “Otto and the gang will love it!”

“Excellent!”, cried Martin.  “Now I just have to make the rest of them!”, as he took a new blank piece of paper and started a new card.

A PS from Martin:  This is what Sir Henry Cole’s first Christmas Card from 1843 looked like.