The year 1843 saw both the publication of “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens and the issuance of the very first Christmas card. Developed by Sir Henry Cole, a civil servant who not only assisted with the creation of the Penny Post but was also instrumental in management of the Great Exhibition in 1851, the card was an immediate hit with the British populace. It was not so enthusiastically received by the British temperance movement, who objected mightily to its depiction of a child drinking wine along with her parents. However, Cole had started a tradition that continues nearly two centuries later.
