Christmas Cards

The first Christmas card was created and sent in 1843. Sir Henry Cole, a wealthy British businessman, wanted a card he could send to friends and business contacts to wish them a ‘Merry Christmas’.

A thousand copies of the card were printed by John Calcott Horsley and sold for one shilling (5p) each.

One of these original cards was sold at an auction in Wiltshire, UK in 2001 for over £20,000!

Hallmark introduced its first Christmas cards in 1915, five years after the founding of the company.

In 1937, the first postage stamp to commemorate Christmas was issued in Austria.

Sending and receiving Christmas cards is a way of communicating with friends and family.

How do we communicate with God?

The Bible calls it ‘prayer’.  We do not have to wait until Christmas to pray because God is always here. The Bible says ‘He is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being.’

Matthew 6:5-14

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. This, then, is how you should pray:

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.

For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”