The First Christmas Cards

We have been receiving Christmas cards each day and usually do right up until the New Year. Did you ever wonder how long people have been exchanging Christmas cards?  The originals were actually postcards.  In the 19th century, a new railway system made the postal service the century's communication revolution.  The custom of sending Christmas cards started in the 1840's when the first Penny Post deliveries began.  Christmas cards were soon produced in large numbers from about 1860.  This postcard is from my collection and it dates from the early 1900's.