Sir Henry Cole is credited with instigating the first mass-produced Christmas greetings cards in the 1840s. He commissioned a friend of his, John Calcott Horsley, an artist, to produce a thousand handmade cards for Cole to distribute to his friends. The introduction of the penny post helped to further the practice. (Information taken from birthdays.co.uk)

Christmas cards are one of those things that I absolutely love sending (and receiving), but I am terrible at remembering to get them written on time. Very often, they’re sent out only a few days before Christmas with very little hope of them arriving in time. Usually, we use a suitable festive photograph to create our own cards. This year though, I think I might try and make something using some of my stash of vintage Christmas cards. Unfortunately I can’t quite remember where I bought them… they came in a bag with lots of others for various occasions. Aidan, being the thoughtful man he is, scanned these all in for me a couple of days ago without telling me.

What I love about these is how you can see the different decades and eras change. My absolute favourites are these ones:

Some people can definitely be expecting to see some of these through their door in the near future.

Happy 1st of December!