Christmas card giving dates back to 1843 and Sir Henry Cole who introduced the Penny Post in England as an affordable postal system. He wanted to make it easy to send holiday greetings to friends and family. The first card was designed by John Callcott Horsley featuring a family celebrating together and the message was, “A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You.” With improved printing and inexpensive postage the 1860s and 1870s saw a worldwide popularity of Christmas card giving. There has been an evolution of Christmas cards with improved manufacturing and distribution.

The giving and receiving of Christmas cards was important and memorable when I was a kid. As kids, we often were given the opportunity to pick out a box or two of the cards we would send. Mom would do the writing inside and sign from, “The 4Js” (all our names started with J).

As a kid and then repeating it with my kids, we picked a received Christmas card (each week or month depending on total cards received) and placed it on our table. We would then pray for that family and often call them or send a note telling them what we were doing with their card.

Sometimes saved Christmas cards were used to create new art. 3-D decoupage was the “rage” while I was a kid. You would take various cards, cut out characters, animals, or stars and layer them on top of each other using glue-guns and shellac.

But, what has happened to the giving of Christmas cards?

• Technology came and many people started sending electronic (digital) cards.
• The rise in the cost of cards and the cost of postage made some families limit the number of cards sent…if any.
• The Christmas cards became less about celebrating Jesus’ birth and more about the commercialization of “the holiday.”

What can we do to revive the spirit of Christmas card giving? Make Christmas card giving a family event from start to finish!

1. Schedule 1-2 nights (1-2 hours per night) a week starting now to get everything completed to deliver cards by Christmas.

2. Choose a basic stock paper you will use. There are varieties of weight, colors, and textures to choose from.

The heavier the stock, the less likely you will want to make a folding card. You may create a postcard style with art on one side and the message on the back. Heavier stock also allows for possible mediums as tempera or finger paint, glue guns, and other heavier “bling.”

Lighter weight paper, like copy paper, can be folded in half or in fours. “Bling” is still possible, but must be lighter like string, ribbons, small buttons or the card will be cumbersome to open.

On lighter paper, make sure you have layers between the folding sides as you create so as not to have ink or paint bleed through.

When folding paper for cards, test out the direction of pages to show pictures, text, and final salutation…you don’t want to work so hard and see you have a page upside down or backwards…but that could add character.

3. Decide your front cover theme. If you have small children, baby lambs, angels, and shepherds may keep their interest.

Allowing your small ones to do finger tip or thumb art is exciting. Dipping their thumb in white paint can create the body of a sheep or angel. Dipping their pinky finger into the white paint and appropriately placing that mark becomes the head of the sheep or angel.

Painting or placing of characters should occur after the background has been sketched on with crayon or colored pencils. This could be done as an assembly line. Someone colors the ground, someone colors the sky, and someone can place glitter stars in the sky.

A theme for older children and adults may be Christmas trees or Poinsettia flowers. Again, this could be completed as an assembly line.

4. Wait now for the next session to add any eyes, legs, arms, or accents to the front cover art. Sharpies come in multiple colors and thickness and work well even over dried paint, crayon, or colored pencils. Additional sticky eyes, stars, or glitter can be used.

Remember, place a sheet or two between the page on which you use the sharpy and the page below so it won’t bleed.

5. Choose a Christmas verse or a goodwill greeting you want in your card. Maybe you want two or three for variety.

At this point you will decide, are you going for the neatness and choose someone with the best penmanship, or are you going for the love and memory making, and anybody who can copy the script to fit in the space becomes a scribe.

6. Make sure the salutation page has everyone’s name and age. Include the year of this Christmas card. When people sift through memories this will be more meaningful because of the names, ages, and date.

7. Finally …the delivery method. Many handmade cards will not fit into an envelope. Depending on who will receive your cards and the distance of delivery, there are several options.

• Before you start, but have decided whether your Christmas card is a postcard, folded in half, or folded in quarters; head down to a local store that still sells envelopes and see if any fit your card. You could measure your card (L x W x H) and then check various online services and find envelopes that match your card size. Always go just a little larger so your creative “bling” won’t be smashed.

• Your family may choose not to use envelopes and hand deliver. This is  my favorite method. Know which cards can be given out at school, work, or church. Present them just saying, “Our family was thinking of you, Merry Christmas.”

• Your family may choose to deliver your Christmas cards to a homeless shelter or senior center. Make sure you check on numbers beforehand if this is your family’s choice…you don’t want any residents to be left out.

Guess what? If your family chooses to purchase the pre-made Christmas cards and skip the creative mayhem…you still can finish well by following steps 6 (salutation page) and 7 (delivery method) and make your Christmas card giving memorable to both your family and those who receive your Christmas Cheer.

For more thought-provoking topics, tune in to Hope 100.7. 
God bless you. Stay hopeful!

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