WA Advent Calendar 2025 - Tuesday 16th December

byGail-UK

3.8K followers

3 days ago

Hello, fellow online entrepreneurs! Welcome to Day 16 of our Advent calendar series and today, I'm sending you all... wait for it....

A Christmas Card!

Here is one I made in Canva for all my fellow WAers, which I hope you like. Make sure you press PLAY!

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The Story of Christmas Cards: From Victorian Greetings to Digital Cheer

There’s something wonderfully nostalgic about receiving a Christmas card through the post. I must admit that I don't send many paper cards anymore, but I do love that soft thud on the mat, a handwritten note and trying to guess who it's from before I open it… It all feels like a tiny moment of connection with the outside world.

But Christmas cards haven’t always been part of the festive season.

Where it all began

The very first commercial Christmas card was created in 1843 by Sir Henry Cole – the same year Charles Dickens published A Christmas Carol. Cole wanted a simple way to send greetings to friends and business contacts without writing dozens of long letters. (And if you've ever read any Victorian letters or novels, then you'll know that they didn't do anything by halves. Why write only 5 words when 200 will do!!)

The designer, John Callcott Horsley, created a card showing a family celebrating together, and the idea took off.

By the late Victorian era, Christmas cards had become a booming industry. Designs ranged from snowy landscapes to… rather odd choices, like dead birds, giant vegetables and dancing frogs. Victorians were quirky; we do our best to keep up nowadays but I think you'll probably find some veggies on Christmas cards still!

The golden age of posting

Through the 20th century, sending Christmas cards became a firm tradition. At its peak, the Royal Mail delivered over a billion Christmas cards each year in the UK. People would spend hours writing them, often with a running commentary about the weather and how big the children were getting.

And if you've got a friend who sends you a Christmas Newsletter, you'll know that slightly sinking feeling when you're reading about all the amazing things your friends got up to in the year, as you feel small because your only news is that daughter got kicked out of school!! (But I digress, and my daughter did NOT get kicked out of school... yet!)

And of course, there was always that one neighbour who kept a spreadsheet of who’d sent them cards so they could update the list for next year and cross you off if you didn't send them a card!

Then the digital age arrived…

The way we send festive cheer has changed dramatically. Email, social media, WhatsApp and e-cards have created a faster, cheaper and more environmentally friendly alternative.

• E-cards first became popular in the late 1990s
• Animated cards followed in the 2000s
• And now many people send a quick festive video, a GIF or a photo message instead

Younger generations especially tend to choose digital greetings, while older generations keep the tradition of handwritten cards alive.

But physical cards aren’t disappearing

Even with the rise of digital messages, millions of Christmas cards are still sent every year. Many people love the ritual: choosing the design, signing in pen, and popping them into the red post boxes that we still, luckily have in the UK. And charity Christmas cards remain a major source of fundraising for that sector, too.

And although I love digital things, I still love holding a physical card.

And the postal rush…

December is still the Royal Mail’s busiest month. Delivery workers handle millions of cards and parcels, becoming the unsung heroes of Christmas. Though deadlines get earlier every year, which leads to that classic December panic:

“I swear it wasn’t this early last year!”

Where we are now

Christmas greetings have become a mix of:
• Handmade cards
• Charity cards
• Printed photo cards
• E-cards and video messages
• Social media greetings
• And the classic “Merry Christmas, everyone!” broadcast to the entire contact list on Christmas Day, and "Happy New Year" in the early hours of January 1st!

No matter the format, the spirit is the same: connection, kindness, and taking a moment to show someone you care.

So whether you’re sending cards the old-fashioned way or tapping send on a sparkly digital greeting, you’re part of a tradition that’s been spreading joy for nearly 200 years.

And for those who are interested, I wrote the WA Christmas card poem myself (no AI), and created the whole thing in Canva with a few images done in Image Studio here.

I hope you like it.

Gail