The Surprising Histories Behind Your Favorite Christmas Symbols and Traditions

The year was 1843, and Sir Henry Cole, a popular Londoner, was receiving more holiday notes than he could respond to individually due to the advent of the penny stamp, which made letters inexpensive to send. So, Cole asked artist J.C. Horsley to create a festive design he could have printed and mail en masse and—voila!—the first Christmas card was created. German immigrant and lithographer Louis Prang is credited with beginning the commercial Christmas card business in America in 1856, while one of the earliest folded cards paired with an envelope was sold in 1915 by the Hall Brothers (now Hallmark). Today, around 1.6 billion holiday cards are sold in the U.S. each year, according to the Greeting Card Association.