Amazing Christmas card stories

The ubiquitous Christmas card was first produced on a commercial level in 1843 by one Sir Henry Cole, spawning an industry that would go on to become one of the cornerstones of modern Christmas tradition.

Incredibly, one of the great man’s cards, that he sent to his Grandmother has gone on to become the most valuable of all time - sold at auction in 2001 for £20,000.

If you think that’s an amazing story, read on because here we have assembled some of the most remarkable Christmas card stories ever.

Better late than never

It took a mere 93 years to arrive by which time its intended recipient had already died, but in 2007, a Christmas card featuring a coloured drawing of Father Christmas with a young girl arrived on the doorstep of Bernice Martin who lives in Northwest Kansas. The card, originally sent in 1914 and addressed to her sister in law Ethel Martin, was sent by cousins in Alma Nebraska. Nobody knows how the card went missing nor how it managed to survive for so long to find its way to its destination.

A love story

David McCombe and Hazel Stilgoe first met in 1976 when Hazel was 13 and David was a dashing 19 year old motorcyclist on holiday in South Wales. The pair soon became inseparable and David with the permission of Hazel’s parents would take her to the beach where they would sit together together and enjoy an ice cream. After the holiday ended and David began University, the relationship fizzled out - until 34 years later when Hazel found David on Facebook. They arranged to meet and within an hour were engaged to be married. Hazel has since sent David 34 Christmas cards, one for each year they they were apart.

Smallest

In December 2010, Scientists at the University of Glasgow produced the smallest ever Christmas card. The Card is of a tree and is etched onto a tiny piece of glass 200 micrometres wide by 290 micrometres tall - to put the achievement in perspective - a human hair is about 100 micrometres in width - you could fit 8,276 of the cards onto a first class stamp. You may well ask why? It would seem that the answer is - because they can and they want to show off their expertise in nanotechnology. Fair enough.

Stingiest

We may be going through tough economic times but it would seem reasonable to splash out on a few Christmas cards for friends and relations. But Americans Warren Nord and Tut Andersen began a Christmas card exchange during the Great Depression of the 1930s that continued uninterrupted for the next 57 years - each year, sending each other the same card. We think that’s probably taking economy a little too far.

Christmas Cards in the trenches

Life in the trenches of the First World War was appalling, but no matter how bad things got, the delivery of mail was a triumph. The close proximity of some of the key battle grounds to the channel ports, and the efficiency of the postal system meant that family news could be exchanged by letter to and from the Western Front in as little as two days. Tremendous volumes of mail were dispatched and King George V himself, sent a Christmas card to every soldier, sailor and nurse.

Christmas Greetings

But Great War Christmas Greetings didn’t stop there; the ‘Christmas truce’ was a series of widespread ceasefires that took place around Christmas day in 1914. It began when parties of British and German soldiers began exchanging seasonal greetings and extended to joint ceremonies to bury the dead, the exchange of gifts and even reports of a football match. Needless to say, senior commanders were horrified and deeply concerned in case fraternisation between enemies might put them off slaughtering each other. Hmm.

We're trying to write our own amazing Christmas card story this year with our wide selection of charity Christmas cards. 90% of the proceeds raised will go directly to Cancer Research UK Trading Limited, so please do take a look at our range. There are many lovely designs to choose from.