Every year, millions of people give out cards to loved ones. Be it Easter, birthdays, Valentine’s Day, Mothers’ or Fathers’ Day uncountable amounts are sent and received. But no other time of the year generates more card sales than the Christmas season. Billions of Christmas cards are sold worldwide annually.

Now some historians would have you believe through seemingly incontrovertible evidence that the Christmas cards’ origins can be located as far back as the Middle Ages, where wood engravers created prints with religious themes on them.

However the first real Christmas card dates back to the 19th century or, more specifically, 1843. John Callcott Horsley from England created the first documented Christmas card. He was the famous grand-nephew of Sir Augustus Callcott, a landscape painter born in Kensington, England. Sir Augustus was a reputable academician honoured with not only a knighthood but also the respectable task of working in the office of the Surveyor of the Queen’s/King’s Pictures. John followed in his grand uncle’s footsteps.

He thrived in the world of painting, receiving countless accolades, including the top prize at the Westminster Hall competition and the honour of working with five other artists to design the famous British House of Parliament frescoes. His reputation elongated over the lands and it wasn’t long before Sir Henry Cole, an innovative highly-placed civil servant, came a-knocking. He commissioned John to make a Christmas card. Fast forward to the present day, and imagine, if you will, being commissioned to design a season’s greetings card? It seems almost laughable huh? Why, a toddler can create a card in a matter of minutes; why bother paying someone loads of money to do it? Well, back then (just like in some countries still), it was a serious proposition.

The end result, although impressive, was not without controversy, for the reason that it featured a child drinking wine!

It had three drawings. The central one featured a family soaked in Christmas festivities, with said child seemingly guzzling some wine. The drawings on either sides consisted of hungry people being fed and the poor being clothed.

It was made on some cardboard and a thousand, hand-coloured copies were sold in London.

A few years after, the Americans would follow in New York. Their Christmas card was also an advert for a department store. The message accompanying that seasons’ greeting was: Pease’s Great Variety Store in the Temple of Fancy; an advertising ploy that has become synonymous with our culture. For even in this day and age, it’s not just friends and relatives who hand out Christmas cards, but organisations and institutions, who presumably do it to show just how valued your custom is. So in that way, the exploitation of the Christmas card is not a recent phenomenon. However, that shouldn’t dissuade you from getting involved and showering those you love with Christmas cards. It’s always been like that, it was conceived as a business venture.

So, refrain from fighting tradition! Get plenty of Christmas cards and distribute them with a smile on your face. But make sure you buy ones made from sustainable resources. Equally you could consider purchasing cards made by local charities as they can benefit hugely from sales of these cards. That way, you’re giving one gift, twice.