A comparatively modern custom to celebrate Christmas is with the sending of Christmas cards. Nowadays these are very cheap, pretty cards mass produced with Christmas symbols, pictures, scenes or something similar on the front and a simple verse inside.
Some people make their own cards, a special favourite is to cross stitch a Christmas message and mount it in card to make a special personal greeting. Some people have their own cards printed with their own choice of picture and message.
For many years close friends had exchanged greetings at Christmas, friends who were travelling would take messages and letters from family to family. One could send their servant with a message if the recipient was close enough, otherwise the letter might not get through for a long time. Ladies would often paint pretty pictures and write poems to go with them.
In 1840 the penny post where people paid a penny to have their mail delivered made it possible for letters to be sent more easily. Paper had also become cheaper. More people started writing to friends at Christmas.
In 1843 Henry Cole, a well known and important business man in London did not have time to write letters at Christmas. He asked a painter to paint him a picture, then had a thousand copies printed, signed them and sent them to friends. This was still a very expensive process, but it was the first ever Christmas card. By the end of the 1860s Christmas card sending was widespread. By the 1870s with the introduction of the halfpenny post for unsealed letters and much cheaper colour printing the Christmas card custom really took off.
This friendly cheerful bird is often seen in gardens and close to people. Gardeners enjoy their company and many people put food out for them.
We often see robins on Christmas cards. They are very attractive birds with their bright red waistcoats. I have found two legends about how the robin got his red breast. The first is that when he carried fire to the earth for man he scorched his chest. The second is that he went to Bethlehem to see baby Jesus soon after his birth but found the stable cold with the fire going out. To help he fanned the fire with his wings until it glowed red hot, thus scorching his breast.
A man called Tom Smith visited France in the 1840s and saw a sweet wrapped up in a little twist of paper. He liked the packet so much that he went home to his sweet factory in London and made that sort of wrapper for his sugared almonds. They sold well, because they looked so lovely young men were buying them for their girlfriends. Tom Smith had the idea of putting little love mottos in the packets. This made them sell even better. People went out of their way to go to his shop to buy them.
In 1946 he had the idea of wrapping up a little gift for Christmas in his twist of paper. He experimented with pull apart packets that eventually became our Christmas cracker. One evening while standing by a fire a log popped and crackled. It made him jump. He realised that this pop was needed when the packet was pulled apart. He experimented with chemicals until he found the right mixture. Christmas crackers were so popular that he had to open a new factory to make them. They are still as popular today and many are still made by Tom Smith's factory from where they are sent all over the world.