Apart from the food and decorations, Christmas greeting cards are a huge part of the holiday season.
At some point in our lives, almost every individual has sent out greeting cards to their friends or family.
Exchanging Christmas greeting cards have become a tradition not only in the United States, but most countries around the world.
However, most people don't even know how this practice started, why and how come it became as important as it is now.
Let's try tracing back its roots and find out for ourselves just how important and fascinating Christmas greeting cards have become through the years.
London is the primary setting most historians trace back to when it comes to sending out greeting cards.
The English were known to send out handwritten Christmas greetings to their families and relatives.
As time went by, one Englishman, Sir Henry Cole, commissioned an artist, John Callcott Horsley, to create painted cards with Christmas themes since he was too busy to personally create them himself.
The main idea was to save time since all Sir Henry had to do was to sign the card and send it out to friends and family.
Although this wasn't a complete success because of some controversy that resulted with some of the images, particularly of children enjoying a glass of wine; the practice of preprinted cards were formalized by Kate Greenaway in the early 20th century.
Soon enough the wave of Christmas greeting cards became a staple in the United States, thanks to Louis Prang, American Lithograph printer.
He printed and sold these printed greeting cards filled with beautiful holiday designs like snowmen, flowers, toys, and children.
Christmas greeting cards became a staple in the American culture and more and more themes were introduced as the years progressed.