Name: Tess
Home: St. Louis
An Expensive Card
And you thought your Christmas cards and postage were expensive. A man paid approximately $16, 000 yesterday for the oldest commercially produced Christmas card.
While you're printing your newsletters, addressing envelopes, and sticking on stamps, you can blame Sir Henry Cole, generally credited as the inventor of the Christmas card.
(If any of you are waiting for a Christmas card from me, be forewarned: I will most likely send out an e-card, as I did last year. I hope no one holds that against me.)
posted by Tess | 5:52 PM
2 Comments:
I won't hold it against you, but my friend who works for Hallmark might. I don't usually bother sending actual cards either, much to her horror, I'm sure. (I do have to give Hallmark credit for having a wonderful record on providing advancement opportunities for women.) To me, it seems like greeting cards of all kinds commodify friendship--in the sense that people somehow feel compelled to buy some mass-produced piece of decorated paper, designed by somebody else. How about just making one's own hand-drawn Christmas cards? (Or conveying one's friendship and caring all year round with substantial conversations and support?) I have to admit, I don't really get into e-cards either, but I'll be happy to get one anyhow.
The English side of our family - my husband's people - are super-keen on cards. And not just any card, but the kind that is personalized by relationship. "For you both, son and daughter-in-law," "With love to my great-granddaughter". It's nuts. So play along. It keeps them happy. But I still buy the big econo-box of cards and everyone gets the same one!
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