Wishing Friends and Family a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Wishing Friends and Family a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Wishing Friends and Family a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
I’m KayDee Gilkey with the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report.

Many of us send Christmas and New Year’s cards. My family just finished mailing ours out earlier this week. We enjoy receiving cards from around the country updating us on family’s and friends’ lives.

Well, if you are sending or receiving Christmas or holiday cards this season, you are part of a 169-year old tradition as USDA Historical expert Anne Effland explains.

Effland: “And the Christmas card was an innovation to make it a little easier to send a pre-printed card. The first card was made in 1843 and it featured a picture of a family toasting the recipient for Christmas. It was criticized widely for promoting drinking.”

Probably the criticism centered on the young children that were imbibing on that card’s image.
The early English cards rarely showed winter or religious themes, as you might think but rather favored fanciful designs of flowers or fairies to remind the recipient of the approach of spring.

Effland: “In 1851, the first Christmas card was printed in the U.S. and in 1862 the first mass produced Christmas cards appeared in London.
My aunt was a Oregon rural postmaster and so I’m very aware of the importance of supporting my rural post office by mailing parcels and purchasing stamps. Remember to support your rural post office now and throughout the year.
This year alone in the United States more than 2 billion Christmas cards will be exchanged..
 

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