Feest Isolation Days – 23 December
The house is becoming filled with Christmas cards! Both the paper as well as the electronic variety. I must say, I’m an old fashioned sort of woman, I like opening the cards that come through the letterbox. We play the identify the sender game and it seems I’ve become quite good at recognising handwriting!
It got me wondering about the origin of sending Christmas Cards and who was responsible for the ritual many of us continue to adhere to today. A civil servant, Sir Henry Cole started us all off. He worked in the Public Records Office and in 1843 he and his artist friend John Horsley worked on his idea together and the first card was produced. A thousand cards were made and cost a shilling each. That’s about five pounds in today’s money! Prior to 1840 when the Penny Stamp was introduced (and Sir Henry had a hand in that…) the recipient of the letter had to pay the postal fees. There has been a form of mail in the UK since Charles the Second established the first “Royal Mail” in 1660. Look at the stamp you are using today. Both first and second class. Do you notice something missing? The UK is the only country in the world that doesn’t have to put the country of origin on its stamps! As the first issuer of stamps in the world they have the privilege of not needing a country identifier! That continues to this day.
This is the first Christmas Card ever sent.
In 2010, 1.5 billion cards were mailed in the States, they liked Sir Coles idea! Here in the UK during the same year, 700 million cards were sent. Only 15% of cards are purchased by men.
Make sure you buy Charity Cards, they really do help! Over 580 million pounds is raised annually for various charities through their Christmas card sales. One of Henry’s cards was sold at auction for £22,500. Wouldn’t that have been a nice little earner for one of the Charities?
I like the idea of sending and receiving cards. When our postman (we’ve never had a postwoman!) delivers them to us each day, whether it’s pouring or sunny, we are happy to see him, or usually just hear him. Our current chap likes to bang on the door rather ringing the bell if there is a package to be delivered by Royal Mail. He likes the sound of our knocker apparently. I don’t mind, I like the twang of the post box when he pushes our cards through the metal slot. Keep those cards coming! I love them! They get displayed around the house. And this year, we get to open them before March! (as we would normally now be in NZ.)
I almost forgot to mention Coronavirus – it’s still here. Our borders are currently closed because of the mutation. Nevermind, we were benched long ago…the cards are more special than ever. Here they are displayed around the house. Thank you one and all!
Happy Holidays! Enjoy!
With love,
Kathy x