holiday cards

The Christmas card  is a Victorian creation, which began as a kind of stationery. The first card produced by Sir Cole who worked for  British Postal Service, and an artist he hired named John Horsley. It was a depiction of a Christmas scene. He wrote "A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You."

I received this and thought it was great:
THE CHRISTMAS CARD
We have a list of folks we know all written in a book, 
And every year at Christmas time we go and take a look, 
And that is when we realise, that those names are a part, 
Not the book they’re written in, but of our very hearts. 
For each named stands for someone, whose path touched ours and then, 
Left such a print of Friendship that we want to touch again. 
So never think our Christmas cards are just a  mere routine, 
Of names upon a Christmas list, forgotten in between. 
And every year when Christmas comes, we realise anew, 
The greatest gift of life can give, is knowing friends like you. 
And may the spirit of Christmas, that forever and ever endless, 
Leave it’s richest blessing, in the hearts of you and yours. 
--Roy Russell