Well, by now it's already started happening. Somewhere in your home, maybe it's on the

mantle, the refrigerator, taped around a doorway or in some Pinterest-inspired display somewhere,

the Christmas cards are rolling in. And rolling out, too,

if you're keeping on top of things. You can't have Christmas without them, whether they're

family photo cards, store-bought greeting cards, or even those annual family newsletters. I have a feeling

those are going to become like the ugly sweater of Christmas cards. They're so horrible

that one day they're going to become cool again. But have you ever stopped to wonder how

Christmas cards came to be the annual tradition they are? It's a story of many historic and

economic and technological developments all coming together around the same time. And just like it is with a lot of the

Christmas traditions we celebrate today, this one's relatively new. I'm Brian Earle. This is

Christmas Past.

In America, we send over one billion Christmas cards every year.

Some estimates have it as high as $1.9 billion.

Now, I had to check a few sources before I was convinced, because that number seemed really high.

There's only 320 million people in America, and not all of them even celebrate Christmas. Heck, not all of them are old enough to even buy Christmas cards

in the first place. But that billion-plus number was even reported by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The number has been on the decline in this age of e-cards and social media, but still,

that's a lot of cards. The very practice of

exchanging written greetings traces all the way back to ancient Egypt, but the Christmas card

itself comes to us from England. Around the 1800s, Valentine's were already very popular. These

were ornate handmade pieces and they were usually delivered

in person.

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