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Christmas Cards

All About Christmas

I had very bad performance in the exam yesterday.But it won’t effect my enthusiasm to celebrate the Christmas.

Every year more than 400 million people celebrate X’mas around the world – that makes X’mas one of the world’s biggest religious and commercial festivities. In approximately year 300 A.D., the birthday of Jesus was determined to be on December 25, the day that has been celebrated from then till this very day. The celebration on the 25th of December starts with Christmas Eve, the evening of December 24.

It is quite easy to make a personalized Christmas card. Here are a few ideas:

All about Chriatmas

1. Glue small fern leaves on a piece of paperboard. Putting them together simulates the look of a Christmas tree, especially if you add a small star sticker or cut-out on the top. The trees can be decorated with small gift packages, i.e. squares made of colored tape which you wrap with cross ribbons in contrasting colors.

2. Even if you are not good in drawing, you can still create beautiful Christmas cards. Cut out Christmas motifs from magazines, preferably colorful ones, and glue them together on a piece of paper (e.g. in several layers). It sounds simple, but you can really make very beautiful and creative cards in no time.

The History

All About Christmas

The tradition of sending Christmas cards begun in 1843 – about the same time as the first Christmas seal was published. The first Christmas card was produced in England, and the idea was well-received, because the following year, more than 25,000 Christmas cards were sold. However, the first Christmas card provoked controversy in certain circles in England, because the Christmas card pictured a company of people touching glasses and saying “Merry Christmas”. Putting alcohol and holy Christmas in one picture did not please the English citizens then.

For more than thirty years, Americans had to import greeting cards from England. In 1875, German immigrant to the U.S. Louis Prang, opened a lithographic shop with $250, and published the first line of U.S. Christmas cards. His initial creations featured birds and flowers, unrelated to the Xmas scene. By 1881, Prang was producing more than 5 million Christmas cards per year.

Did you know that…

• In 2004, the German post office gave away 20 million scented stickers for free to make Christmas cards smell like a fir Christmas tree, cinnamon, gingerbread, or a honey-wax candle.
• A surge in Christmas cards came in the 1940s, courtesy of World War II. Friends and family, far away fighting, received cards with patriotic messages and symbols, like Uncle Sam.
• Many organizations produce special Christmas cards as a fundraising tool. The most famous of these enterprises is probably the UNICEF Christmas card program, launched in 1949.
• An average household in America will mail out 28 Christmas cards each year and see 28 cards arrive in their place.

All About Christmas